Armenia’s government allocated more than 207 million drams (about $515,000) in state funding to a Yerevan-based research institute through a secret mechanism over five years, along with a long-term free-use property grant in the capital, Factor.am reported this week, prompting questions over transparency and political favoritism.
The Ashot Hovhannisyan Institute for Humanities received annual grants from 2020 to 2025 under a government program for supporting civil society organizations. The decisions were classified at the time and declassified only in late October following media requests.
According to documents cited by CivilNet, the Cabinet justified secrecy by referring to “urgent needs to study sensitive issues” linked to the political environment after Armenia’s 2018 revolution and the 2020 war. The funds were issued without competition, despite budget rules stating that civil grants should be allocated via open tender.
The institute also received a 348-square-metre state-owned space in central Yerevan for 15 years free of charge, following a prime ministerial instruction in 2021. In response to CivilNet, the Prime Minister’s Office stated that secrecy was lifted because the research “has lost urgency” after the Armenia–Azerbaijan agreement reached in Washington on 8 August.
The institute was co-founded by cultural historian Vardan Azatyan, who later became rector of the State Academy of Fine Arts and, in January 2025, a member of Armenia’s Public Council — a consultative body appointed by the government. In past publications, Azatyan praised the 2018 revolution, and in 2024 Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan referenced research conducted “with one of our partner organizations” widely understood to be the institute.
The institute also collaborated with Anna Hakobyan, the common law wife of Pashinyan, on a public education campaign in 2024.
