Referring to claims that international stars boost Armenia's visibility, Gyumri city council member Ruben Mkhitaryan wrote on Facebook that “nothing has brought Armenia more recognition than the defeat in the 44-day war of 2020.”
He added: “To rephrase the ‘classic’ line—not that we lost Nagorno-Karabakh, but that we found Jennifer Lopez.”
In his post, Mkhitaryan criticized a famous quote by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, which stated: “We didn’t lose Nagorno-Karabakh, we found the Republic of Armenia.” The councilman argued instead: “Nothing has brought Armenia this much recognition like the defeat in the 2020 war and the loss and depopulation of Artsakh in the fall of 2023.”
He emphasized that no two-day visit and concert by a megastar can generate such an immense volume of information traffic. According to him, the current Armenian government has effectively placed the country among the four capitulated states of the 21st century: Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), and Libya (2011).
Mkhitaryan concluded: “So, rephrasing the absurdity of the ‘classic’: we didn’t lose Nagorno-Karabakh—we found Jennifer Lopez.”
Media expert Samvel Martirosyan noted that Google searches for “Armenia” did not significantly rise during Lopez’s concert. Interest in the country was higher during the Vardavar holiday than during the performance.
The American singer’s concert and dance show took place in Yerevan on August 3 as part of her Up All Night tour.
