Doctor who confronted Pashinyan during campaign fired from Yerevan clinic job

By Siranush Adamyan

Arpine Soghoyan, a doctor who publicly confronted Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during campaigning for Armenia's parliamentary elections, has been dismissed from her job at a Yerevan polyclinic, her daughter said.

Tatevik Soghoyan wrote on Facebook that her mother was let go "after 21 years of impeccable work" at the clinic, citing a staffing cut as the official reason. She questioned that explanation, contrasting it with what she described as billions of drams the city spends on celebrations.

CivilNet has requested comment from the Yerevan municipality.

Soghoyan's brother went missing during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

On May 18, during a campaign stop in Yerevan's Arabkir district, she approached Pashinyan and accused him of costing the country thousands of lives and, in her words, stealing her brother and her homeland.

Pashinyan responded angrily. Although Soghoyan had not named former President Robert Kocharyan, Pashinyan referenced him directly, saying people speaking with a "Karabakh accent" were spreading videos online, and calling on unnamed critics to identify themselves rather than hide behind masks.

Reports that Soghoyan could lose her job began circulating soon after the exchange. At the time, Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan told News.am that no one would be dismissed over their political views.