White Paper on “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund Part I By Ara K. Manoogian “To donate or not to donate?” That is the question millions of Armenians have been asking themselves on every Thanksgiving Day since 1992 before making a pledge to “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund. Despite their willingness to lend a helping hand, numerous contributors tend to think twice before making a donation, due to multiple reports and evidence of corruption linked to the activities of the Fund. More and more people vow not to donate. A few days before the 2010 telethon, Horizon TV aired an interview with Sarkis Kotanjian, Executive Director of “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund U.S. Western Region, who referred to the reports of corruption as myths and tried to dispel them. Below, each of the myths is presented exactly as Mr. Kotanjian worded them, along with his interpretations, which are termed here as “busting.” The alternative interpretations of the core issues are presented as “Unbusting.” Continue reading »
Seyran Ohanyan and Pavel Manukyan
The tradition for not punishing military personnel for violence has been set by none other than Colonel-General Seyran Ohanyan, Defense Minister of Armenia, on June 19, 2005. That day Seyran Ohanyan, then the Defense Minister of Artsakh, together with a number of high-ranking military officials—Samvel Karapetyan, Vardan Balayan, Artur Harutiunyan, Vladik Khachatryan, as well as current Defense Minister of Artsakh, Movses Hakobyan—subjected Artsakh war veteran Pavel Manukyan to a severe gang beating within the walls of the Defense Ministry. The incident became a scandal both on TV, and in media, however, it didn’t get as much public attention as it would today thanks to the social networks. Numerous articles were written about the violence committed by High-Ranking Generals, the Armenian authorities called on the their counterparts in Artsakh to conduct an impartial investigation of the matter. The former Artsakh President, Arkady Ghukasyan, promised to guarantee unbiased administration of justice. Continue reading »
“Be The Change” – this is how Raw Radio titled its Episode 19, which is an interview I gave the online radio station about my activism on June 3. I believe it turned out to be a very informative 1 hour about a wide scope of issues, with which I have been concerned for the past decade, and which have been the principal agendas of my activism. The issues covered during the interview include corruption in Armenia, human trafficking, problems related to the Diaspora presence in Armenia, the mysterious circumstances of death of Armenian national hero Monte Melkonian, the unresolved gruesome murder of Nazareth Berberian, an American-Armenian businessman and philanthropist and many others. Click here to listen to the podcast.
