A group of young Neo-Nazis marched on January 1st through the Armenian capital city of Yerevan with Nazi stylized flags. Social media videos show them leaving a wreath at the monument to Gargin Nzhdeh – a collaborator of the German Hitlerite regime, who recruited ethnic Armenians to serve in Nazi special services during the Second World War.
Untroubled by the police, the group shouted slogans against external and internal enemies, and with an obvious Nazi salute exclaimed “One Nation, One State, One Will,” and “Forever Armenian”. January 1st is the birthday of Nzhdeh, who was one of the members of the Armenischen Nationalen Gremiums, which operated within the Imperial Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories of Hitlerite Germany (Reichsministerium für besetiezten Ostgebiete) under the supervision of the Gestapo.
The group of Neo-Nazis, calling themselves Hosank, claims they are Armenia’s only ethnic religious political movement. “We should storm the streets with the slogan ‘Armenia for Armenians’ and show the world that the masters of Armenia can only be pure Armenians”, their website says. It is purely an antisemitic movement, on the website of which appear anti-Jewish caricatures.
Antisemitism is on the rise in Armenia – since September 2023, the only synagogue in Armenia has been the target of three consecutive arson attempts. The group behind the last two arsons, the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), threatened to attack Rabbis and Israelis throughout the world and praised Hamas and Hezbollah following the October 7 massacre. While local security services did nothing to protect the synagogue, the authorities claimed that ASALA doesn’t exist anymore since it was disbanded decades ago. The authorities also claimed that a “Russian nationalism is behind the last arson attempt,” but provided no evidence at all.
In November 2023 a former advisor to the Armed Forces of Armenia filmed himself in an antisemitic rant, claiming that he would assist Hamas and Hezbollah in killing Jews, “I will scream to the whole world, about the just killing of Jews.” Political scientist Vladimir Poghosyan is known as an expert on national security in Armenia. He said in the video that Jews have no right to exist. “You jackals must be exterminated completely. I say this as someone who has been involved in intelligence all his life, performed operations at the level of your Mossad and even higher,” Poghosyan stated. He then went on to say that Israel is lucky that he hasn’t assisted either Hamas or Hezbollah. “If only my intellect worked for Hezbollah or Hamas, not [only] 1,000 of your people would have been killed [on October 7, where 1,200 were killed], but 100,000 people. I will consider the destruction of all of your people, as the highest act of justice.”
As the level of antisemitism rising also the Armenian-Iranian connection is turning more and more strategical. Iranian MFA Hossein Amirabdollahain arrived in Yerevan last Wednesday, where he noted the great importance of Armenia for Iran.
Speaking at a press conference Amirabdollahian voiced Tehran’s support for Armenia’s territorial integrity, and said that the bilateral trade must reach 1 billion USD in 2024.
According to the Western media Yerevan is actively helping Moscow circumvent EU, US, and UK sanctions by facilitating the transit of Iranian drones and missiles.
