YEREVAN (Realist English). Armenian businessmen Samvel Karapetyan and Ruben Vardanyan have become hostages of political extortion orchestrated by both the Ilham Aliyev regime in Baku and the Armenian authorities, said Sarkis Tsaturyan, founder of the Ashkharazhokhov movement.
Commenting on the arrest of Karapetyan in Yerevan and the prolonged detention of Vardanyan in Baku, Tsaturyan accused Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of undermining national unity at a critical moment:
“Instead of uniting the nation in response to the Baku fascists’ incursion into Syunik, Pashinyan has unleashed an information war against the Armenian Church and launched arrests of political opponents. He insults the faithful and desecrates sacred symbols — forgetting that such acts are no less criminal than murder or corruption.”
Tsaturyan argued that the treatment of diaspora businessmen reveals “the fears and weakness of Yerevan’s political leadership,” which he described as subservient to external powers:
“What we’re seeing is the result of a politically dependent government — one that doesn’t protect its own, but hands them over when outsiders demand it.”
Samvel Karapetyan, owner of the Tashir Group, is one of Armenia’s largest investors. He is currently facing legal pressure from Armenian authorities amid speculation of a politically motivated case.
Ruben Vardanyan, a former State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, was arrested by Azerbaijani forces following Baku’s military takeover of the region in 2023. He remains imprisoned on charges widely condemned as politically driven.
“Every regime has a beginning and an end,” Tsaturyan added. “Elections are approaching — and the people will remember.”