The headteacher of a music school in Yerevan, Irina Mkrtchyan, has said that she was subject to a blackmail attempt by her ex-husband, who threatened to publish a video allegedly smoking weed if she refused to give up her share in their property. The video was circulating online after the ex-husband reportedly threatened to publish it during a property dispute. The incident has sparked debate in Armenia over double standards and blackmail targeting women.

On social media and in Armenian media, some questioned whether Irina Mkrtchyan should continue to head a music school given the apparent drug use shown in the footage. Others focused on the alleged blackmail and double standards.

The controversy also became a subject of political commentary, with opposition figures portraying Irina Mkrtchyan as a ‘drug-addicted teacher’ who represents the ruling authorities.

In a Facebook post on 7 November, Irina Mkrtchyan said the video had been filmed ‘approximately 8–9 years ago’ by her then-husband, Ashot Mkrtchyan.

The couple divorced in January 2024, after which Irina Mkrtchyan said she began experiencing ‘harassment, psychological and physical abuse and blackmail’.

‘He threatened to publish the video unless I gave up my share of the property we had acquired together’, Irina Mkrtchyan said.

‘I did not give in to the threats, and as a result, a court ruled that my former husband was obliged to pay me the compensation due to me. This action on his part is an act of outright revenge and a continuation of the extortion he had threatened’, she added.

Irina Mkrtchyan said she had refrained from approaching law enforcement for a long time, ‘thinking only about the future and well-being of our children’. However, she said she would now submit a report to the authorities, accompanied by evidence, concerning the incidents.

She also urged people and media outlets not to share the video, saying that ‘it concerns my private life and a difficult family history’.

At the beginning of her post, Irina Mkrtchyan apologised to the music school’s students and their parents ‘for this unpleasant incident concerning my private life and the situation that has arisen as a result’.

Two days later, Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan was asked about the video, to which he responded that the head of the Ajapnyak administrative district, where the school is located, would meet with the students’ parents the following day to discuss the controversy.

‘So that we can approach it from several perspectives and understand, first and foremost, the director’s professional qualifications, and secondly, the published video’, Avinyan said.

He added that, according to the information available to him, Irina Mkrtchyan ‘has filed a report with the police over the extortion case’, refraining from further comments, only saying that ‘something despicable and ugly has been done’.

Following the meeting, the head of Ajapnyak district, Serob Sargsyan, told local media that Irina Mkrtchyan would remain in her position, taking into account the parents’ views.

‘During the meeting, parents urged that Irina Mkrtchyan be allowed to remain in her position, saying that the director herself had not committed any wrongdoing and that the incident which sparked the controversy had been related to actions taken by her former husband’, ArmLur reported.

Tatevik Soghoyan, a lawyer who often comments on politics, called for society to ‘rethink our attitude towards victims of blackmail’.

‘Not only because blackmail primarily targets a person’s private life, dignity, family, and children, but also because it can sometimes undermine justice and morality’, she wrote.

Soghoyan questioned whether the incident from eight years ago had any bearing on Irina Mkrtchyan’s current professional work, and whether the former husband had put her in the situation in the first place.

She also argued that once the blackmail allegations had been explained, ‘there was no need to keep dragging this issue out and targeting the woman to such an extent’.

Meanwhile, journalist Lianna Khachatryan highlighted what she described as double standards in how men and women are judged over their private lives.

‘I am convinced that if this video had instead shown a male school principal before he took up the position, everyone would have said, “Oh, come on, he’s a guy. What man hasn’t done that?” ’, Khachatryan wrote.