“A kind of social revolution is taking place in Armenia”

2026/40 | Interview | Georgi Derluguian, sociologist and Caucasus expert

Georgi Derluguian suggests the statue of Alexander Tamanyan between the opera and the cascade in the center of Yerevan as a meeting point. As he heads for a restaurant on a side street, he talks about Tamanjan's role in the construction of the modern city, which the "Architect of Yerevan" played a key role in designing in the 1920s. A conversation begins about the national cultures in the Soviet Union, the question of why the dissatisfaction of the Soviet intelligentsia expressed itself in nationalism, the regime in Azerbaijan and the danger of a new war.

Paul Simon