Andrias Marati Ghukasyan (Armenian : Անդրիաս Մարատի Ղուկասյան) is an Armenian political analyst.
Ghukasyan was one of seven candidates in the 2013 presidential election. [1] [2]
In 1987, he finished secondary school at N83. In the same year he entered the Yerevan State University Department of Economics. From 1988 to 1989, he served in the Soviet Army. In 1994, he graduated from Yerevan State University having an "Economic Cybernetics" specialty and received a degree in economics-mathematics. In 2005, he graduated from the St. Petersburg International Economic Relations, Economics and Law Institute, earning his bachelor's degree in Jurisprudence.
On January 21, 2013, Ghukasyan started a hunger strike in front of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences building in Yerevan. [3] He had a large poster, written in Armenian and English demanding to "Stop fake elections". [4] Finishing his protest after the results were announced, Ghukasyan, together with another opposition candidate, Raffi Hovhannisian, a US-born Armenian politician who is the founder of the Heritage Party, filed an appeal Archived 2013-03-06 at the Wayback Machine with the Armenian Constitutional Court to dispute the results of the election (which gave incumbent Serzh Sargsyan a second term).
On July 16, 2015 he co-founded the Rise up, Armenia movement. [5] [6] It opposes raising electricity tariffs and organizes rallies against raising electricity tariffs generally in Republic Square.
On August 21, 2015 he with other Rise up, Armenia members was apprehended during a rally, [7] freed after several hours. [8]
He was arrested in July 2016, during the 2016 Yerevan hostage crisis.
In July 2018, Andrias Ghukasyan established the Armenian Constructive Party.
In May 2021, the Armenian Constructive Party joined the Free Homeland Alliance to participate in early parliamentary elections. [9]
Arkadi Arshaviri Ghukasyan is an Armenian politician who served as the second President of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. He was elected as the President on 8 September 1997 and re-elected in 2002, until his term ended on 7 September 2007 and was succeeded by Bako Sahakyan. He was detained by Azerbaijani forces after the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh and is currently facing criminal charges in Azerbaijan.
Vazgen Mikayeli Manukyan is an Armenian politician who served as the first Prime Minister of Armenia from 1990 to 1991. From 1992 to 1993, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, Manukyan was acting Defence Minister of Armenia. He was also a member of Armenia's parliament from 1990 to 2007.
Raffi K. Richardi Hovannisian is an Armenian politician, the first Foreign Minister of Armenia and the founding leader of the national liberal Heritage party. He is the founder of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies, the country's first independent research center.
Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan is an Armenian politician serving as the prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018. A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in 1998, which was shut down a year later for libel. He was sentenced for one year for defamation against then Minister of National Security Serzh Sargsyan. He edited the newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak from 1999 to 2012. A supporter of Armenia's first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, he was highly critical of second president Robert Kocharyan, Defense Minister Serzh Sargsyan, and their allies. Pashinyan was also critical of Armenia's close relations with Russia, and promoted establishing closer relations with Turkey instead. He led a minor opposition party in the 2007 parliamentary election, garnering 1.3% of the vote.
The 2011 Armenian protests were a series of civil demonstrations aimed at provoking political reforms and concessions from both the government of Armenia and the civic government of Yerevan, its capital and largest city. Protesters demanded President Serzh Sargsyan release political prisoners, prosecute those responsible for the deaths of opposition activists after the 2008 presidential election and institute democratic and socioeconomic reforms, including the right to organise in Freedom Square in downtown Yerevan. They also protested against Yerevan Mayor Karen Karapetyan for banning the opposition from Freedom Square and barring vendors and traders from the city streets. The opposition bloc Armenian National Congress, which has played a major role in organising and leading the demonstrations, had also called for a snap election and the resignation of the government.
Presidential elections were held in Armenia on 18 February 2013. In the run-up to the elections, Armenia's first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Gagik Tsarukyan, leader of the second largest parliamentary party Prosperous Armenia, withdrew from the race in December 2012. Many believed that no candidate would be able to challenge incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan, others stated that people see "absence of alternatives" and these factors caused great apathy among the public.
Union for National Self-Determination is an Armenian political party. It was founded in 1987 by Paruyr Hayrikyan, a Soviet dissident seeking independence for Armenia.
Yerevan City Council election was held on May 5, 2013. The Republican Party of Armenia won 56% of the total vote, Prosperous Armenia had 23%, while Barev Yerevan won over 8%. The opposition parties and the local observers denounced the elections as "unfair".
Various political and civil groups staged anti-government protests in Armenia in 2013. The first series of protests were held following the 2013 presidential election and were led by the former presidential candidate Raffi Hovannisian. Hovannisian, who, according to official results, lost to incumbent Serzh Sargsyan, denounced the results claiming they were rigged. Starting on 19 February, Hovannisian and his supporters held mass rallies in Yerevan's Freedom Square and other cities. On 10 March, Hovannisian started a hunger strike, calling elected President Sargsyan to resign before 9 April, the inauguration day. Hovannisian called "for the solution of this unprecedented pan-national fundamental issue before April 9." During an interview on 18 March 2013, Sargsyan said he would not visit Hovannisian and described his claims as "arrogant phrases seasoned with obscenities". Sargsyan was inaugurated on 9 April 2013, while Hovannisian and thousands of people gathered in the streets of Yerevan to protest it, clashing with the police forces blocking the way to the Presidential Palace. Hovannisian's movement was dubbed "Barevolution", a portmanteau of barev and revolution, referring to Raffi Hovannisian's habit of walking up to people and greeting them during the election campaign.
The following lists events that happened during 2013 in Armenia.
Electric Yerevan, also known within Armenia as No to Robbery protests, were mass protests which occurred in the summer of 2015 against a 17% hike in electricity rates within Armenia. The protests were successful in reversing the price hike and causing the sale of Electric Networks of Armenia from Inter RAO to the Tashir Group.
Bright Armenia is a classical liberal political party in Armenia founded on 12 December 2015.
The 2018 Armenian Revolution, most commonly known in Armenia as #MerzhirSerzhin, was a series of anti-government protests in Armenia from April to May 2018 staged by various political and civil groups led by a member of the Armenian parliament — Nikol Pashinyan. Protests and marches took place initially in response to Serzh Sargsyan's third consecutive term as the most powerful figure in the government of Armenia, later broadening against the ruling Republican Party, who were in power since 1999. Pashinyan declared it a Velvet Revolution.
The 2020−2021 Armenian protests were a series of protests that began following the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement on 10 November 2020. After Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that he signed an agreement to cede Armenian-occupied territories in Azerbaijan and put an end to six weeks of hostilities over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, thousands of people took to the streets, and hundreds stormed the Parliament building in the capital Yerevan. Protests continued throughout November, with demonstrations in Yerevan and other cities demanding the resignation of Nikol Pashinyan.
For Social Justice , also known as For the Sake of Social Justice, is an Armenian political party.
The Armenian Constructive Party, sometimes known as the Armenian Construction Party is a liberal political party in Armenia. The party was established in July 2018 and is currently led by Andrias Ghukasyan.
Armenia Alliance is an Armenian political alliance. It was founded in 2021 and is currently led by former President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan.
The Free Homeland Alliance is a political alliance between five political parties in Armenia.
The Peace and Development Party was an Armenian political party in Artsakh.
The Public Voice Party is an Armenian political party. It was founded in 2022 and is currently led by Artak Galstyan.