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Political scientist Aghasi Yenokyan, who served as chief of the Yerevan Bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, predicts the press freedom in Armenia is under risk of deterioration and pressures in the ongoing 2019 year.

“There is consensus among experts that Nikol Pashinyan [Prime Minister of Armenia] is unable to withstand the pressure in the Karabakh talks and will make serious concessions in the end. It is not ruled out that the concessions may even endanger the existence of the Republic of Armenia itself. Yet, the Armenian public do not discuss these challenges. Instead, the public discourse is dominated by topics pertaining to environmental concerns, corruption, human rights, LGBT community, etc. Although all of the mentioned are important for the development of Armenia, they are relevant unless Armenia exists,” the expert says.

In Yenokyan’s words, the reason for the fake agenda being replicated is the absence of opposition as Prosperous Armenia or Bright Armenia parties [parliamentary forces] are not prone to raise challenging security issues for the Pashinyan cabinet while the extra-parliamentary opposition is still recovering from defeats in elections and losing power.

“Only the press may act as an institutional opposition to Nikol Pashinyan - the reason the PM launched targeted attacks on media since the beginning of the year. Following the criticism of the publication about the ruling party gatherings, Pashinyan went further to state that 90 per cent of the press and media outlets operating in Armenia are controlled by former authorities. Experts with pro-governmental stance then voiced about the possibility of redesigning the ownership in the sphere. Lilit Makunts, the head of ruling My Step alliance in parliament praised the public for exerting pressure on and resisting the media. To sum up. a new anti-media campaign has now launched in Armenia,” the experts concludes.