Ara K. Manoogian

How to Renovate Already Renovated Retirement Home (NEW DETAILS)

Nov 222011

November 22, 2011 Posted by Ara K. Manoogian at 3:29 am No Responses »

A few days ago the cost of the “Stepanakert Elderly House Reconstruction,” an ongoing project of “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund (HAAF), increased by 265%. This dramatic increase from about $400 thousand as of October 2011 to about $1 million as of November 2011 was accompanied by the addition of the Artsakh government as a co-sponsor of the project. Thus, the allegedly cash-strapped Artsakh government has committed to investing $600,000 to an already overvalued project.

Over a month ago I published How to Renovate Already Renovated Retirement Home, an article about the redundancy of certain aspects of that project and the cost exaggeration. I had also pinpointed the indecency of the HAAF for providing false information about the history of the retirement home. At that time they claimed the building in question had not undergone major reconstruction since 1988, whereas it is a fact that Louise Manoogian Simone funded a major makeover in 1999, costing about $400 thousand. Continue reading »

What “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund Does Not Want You to Know

Nov 182011

November 18, 2011 Posted by Ara K. Manoogian at 10:10 pm No Responses »

(The French version, հայերեն տարբերակ)

To Donate Or Not to Donate to "Hayastan" All-Armenian Fund

It has been a year since Sarkis Kotanjian, Executive Director of “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund (HAAF) Western U.S. region, gave a TV interview, during which he made so many untrue statements about the Fund that I could no longer put up with the lies. I started working on a detailed report about the true face of the Fund, based on both my personal experience and ample evidence from eyewitness accounts and press. The white paper was titled “To Donate Or Not to Donate?” (Click here for the Armenian version), which covered a wide range of issues related to the HAAF and the Armenian government.

I had a meeting with Sarkis Kotanjian shortly after the interview to understand why he was drawing such an inaccurate picture of the Fund on TV. It became obvious that he was misleading thousands of viewers knowingly.

Stepan Partamian: the Armenian Man

Oct 212011

October 21, 2011 Posted by Ara K. Manoogian at 10:44 pm No Responses »

A lecture at the Glendale City College, on October 13, 2011

Government Plans Fresh Changes In Armenian Child Adoption Rules

Sep 222011

September 22, 2011 Posted by Ara K. Manoogian at 1:14 am No Responses »

by Emil Danielyan
Reprinted from RFE/RL

The Armenian government is planning to make fresh and potentially far-reaching changes in its rules and procedures for international adoptions of children from Armenia following an RFE/RL report suggesting that they may still be riddled with corruption.

Relevant proposals drawn up by Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian’s office aim to increase the transparency of the process and reduce the role of obscure local middlemen working for Western adoption agencies. They are also meant to make it easier for Armenian families to adopt or bring up orphans.

Armenian children in an orphanage (courtesy Photolur)

An April 2011 report by RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) said that U.S. adoption agencies seem to continue to make thousands of dollars in informal payments to Armenian officials dealing with foreign adoptions. In particular, it cited a sample contract signed by one such agency, Hopscotch Adoptions, with Americans wishing to adopt Armenian and Georgian children.

The contract, offered to a potential client in the United States in 2007, explained that almost $5,000 of more than $30,000 charged by Hopscotch for every adoption would be spent on “gifts to foreign service providers and government functionaries performing ministerial tasks as an offer of thanks for prompt service.” It claimed that such gifts are “customary” in Armenia and Georgia and do not violate U.S. law.

“Gifts and gratuities” were also a separate spending category in a sample agreement that was offered by another U.S. agency, Adopt Abroad, at least until last April.

Officials at the Armenian Ministry of Justice as well as anti-corruption campaigners in Yerevan agreed at the time that such payments amount to bribes and are therefore illegal in Armenia.

Government sources say Prime Minister Sarkisian took the report very seriously, instructing his senior staff to initiate a major revision of existing adoption rules. They were quick to come up with relevant proposals. Those were submitted in June, along with copies of the Hopscotch contract obtained by RFE/RL, to an inter-agency government commission on adoptions headed by Justice Minister Hrayr Tovmasian. Continue reading »

“Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund Cover-Up Foiled

Jul 082011

July 8, 2011 Posted by Ara K. Manoogian at 3:18 am No Responses »

Appendix to “To Donate or Not to Donate,”
a white paper on “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund

By Ara K. Manoogian

Sarkis Kotanjian giving an interview to Horizon TV

As I was working on the final part of the white paper, Part III was attracting more and more attention from people both pleased and displeased with activities of the “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund (hereafter, HAAF or the Fund). As belated as it was, for the first time, Ara Vardanyan, the Executive Director of the Fund, reacted to the white paper in the form of a lengthy comment. He wrote: “As the present Executive Director of “Hayastan” All Armenian Fund I hereby state that articles published by Ara Manoogian are purely slanderous.”

Expressed through a number of comments, Ara Vardanyan’s main message was nothing new: “Is it possible to fail to notice the hundreds of schools, residential buildings, water mains, hospitals, gas pipe lines, and kindergartens, which “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund has built in Armenia and Artsakh” (comment #6). With slight paraphrasing, this statement is voiced by nearly all Fund representatives and staunch supporters (Ara Vardanyan, Sarkis Kotanjian, Vardan Partamyan, Stepan Partamian and others) in response to accusations of corruption or low quality. Such response translates into a well-known saying: “Never look a gift horse in the mouth.” Continue reading »

To Donate Or Not To Donate? (PART IV)

Jun 212011

June 21, 2011 Posted by Ara K. Manoogian at 2:21 am 1 Response »

White Paper on “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund

Part IV

By Ara K. Manoogian

(Read Part I, Part II, Part III)

This is the concluding part of the white paper on “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund (hereafter HAAF, or the Fund). The final chapter explores how Armenian authorities have been shrinking Armenia’s potential of self-sustainment by tolerating government corruption, shadow economy, as well as using the HAAF as an accessory for large-scale tax evasion. The theme of Part IV is Armenia at 20, No Longer Needs a Baby Walker.

One Day in the Gyumri “Children’s Home” Orphanage

Jun 032011

June 3, 2011 Posted by Ara K. Manoogian at 7:33 pm 1 Response »

Source: Panorama.am (the Armenian version)

Children at Gyumri Orphanage

The Children’s Home is a well-known orphanage throughout the Republic, established in 1924 in Gyumri. The orphanage serves children ages 0-6 years old, who suffer from severe health and development problems. Although, the RA Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Issues, Mr. Filaret Berikyan, assured Panaroma.am that we could visit any orphanage without any difficulty or obstacles, the orphanage deputy director Artur Movsisyan, at first, refused to allow us to enter the orphanage and especially to meet with the children. He, only after seeing the member of the National Assembly and member of the Heritage party, Anahit Bakhshyan, gave the permission to enter the orphanage. We should note that unfortunately, the director of the orphanage, Ruzanna Avagyan was in Yerevan. As a result, we have written this article based solely upon what we have personally seen or was partially presented by the nurses and caregivers. The deputy director, A. Movsisyan, would reply to every question related to documentation, information on the children, and even regarding the number of children who had died in 2010, with “I have been here (only) since September. I do not know”. Continue reading »