A criminal case has been initiated in Armenia over a song "Karabakh" performed in Azerbaijani language

The National Security Service of Armenia has initiated a criminal case against the head of the "Independent Center for Strategic Research," who was among the first to share a video online showing a group of people performing the song "Karabakh" in Azerbaijani language in central Yerevan. According to Armenian media, the recording appeared on social networks on January 30 and quickly gained wide public attention. According to the NSS investigation, the participants in the video are Iranian citizens who arrived in Armenia between December 30 and January 3 as tourists. Law enforcement authorities named them as Milad Kahramanifshar, Behzad Gafari Shabanloo, Mehdi Mohammadi, Hamed Azizi Maleki, and Nader Gafari. The agency emphasized that performing songs in Azerbaijani language on Armenian territory is not prohibited, however, the distribution of such video materials on the internet caused a negative reaction. "We urge everyone to refrain from publishing unverified and unreliable information," the security service stated.