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PAN-ARMENIAN CHARITY CHIEF REJECTS KARABAKH CRITICISM
By Anna Saghabalian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 18 2006
The head of a Diaspora-funded pan-Armenian charity implementing
large-scale infrastructure projects in Nagorno-Karabakh rejected on
Wednesday strong criticism of its activities voiced by the Karabakh
leadership.
The self-proclaimed republic's president, Arkady Ghukasian, and other
senior officials in Stepanakert have publicly complained in recent
months about the quality of an under-construction Karabakh highway
financed by the All-Armenian Fund Hayastan, implicitly accusing its
executive director, Naira Melkumian, of mismanagement.
"We disagree with such characterizations. I wonder what the authors
of those statements are by training," Melkumian said, questioning
the competence of her detractors. "Economists have no right to pass
judgment on the quality of construction," she added.
Melkumian herself is a philologist by training. She worked as foreign
minister in Ghukasian's cabinet before moving to Yerevan and being
appointed Hayastan's chief executive in 2003.
The 170-kilometer road, which will link the northern and southern
parts of Karabakh and is estimated to cost $25 million, is the single
largest infrastructure project funded by Hayastan in Karabakh and
Armenia proper during its 14-year existence. Work on it began in 2000
and is slated for completion next year.
Ghukasian publicly criticized the quality of the construction during a
May meeting in Yerevan of Hayastan's supervisory board, which is headed
by Armenia's President Robert Kocharian and comprises senior Armenian
government officials as well as leaders of Diaspora communities around
the world. "We believe the fund must oversee things more strictly,"
he said.
The complaint was echoed by some Diaspora Armenian members of the
board who cited a continuing lack of Diaspora trust in the efficiency
of the charity and the integrity of its top executives.
But Melkumian ruled out the possibility of any financial irregularities
at Hayastan, arguing that the fund is audited twice a year by Armenian
and Western firms. She also said that only one section of the so-called
"backbone highway" was found to have been poorly constructed in 2004
and that it has since been completely rebuilt.
"At the president's instruction we sent relevant facts to the
[Karabakh] prosecutor's office," Melkumian told reporters. "The
prosecutor's office is now examining them."
By Anna Saghabalian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 18 2006
The head of a Diaspora-funded pan-Armenian charity implementing
large-scale infrastructure projects in Nagorno-Karabakh rejected on
Wednesday strong criticism of its activities voiced by the Karabakh
leadership.
The self-proclaimed republic's president, Arkady Ghukasian, and other
senior officials in Stepanakert have publicly complained in recent
months about the quality of an under-construction Karabakh highway
financed by the All-Armenian Fund Hayastan, implicitly accusing its
executive director, Naira Melkumian, of mismanagement.
"We disagree with such characterizations. I wonder what the authors
of those statements are by training," Melkumian said, questioning
the competence of her detractors. "Economists have no right to pass
judgment on the quality of construction," she added.
Melkumian herself is a philologist by training. She worked as foreign
minister in Ghukasian's cabinet before moving to Yerevan and being
appointed Hayastan's chief executive in 2003.
The 170-kilometer road, which will link the northern and southern
parts of Karabakh and is estimated to cost $25 million, is the single
largest infrastructure project funded by Hayastan in Karabakh and
Armenia proper during its 14-year existence. Work on it began in 2000
and is slated for completion next year.
Ghukasian publicly criticized the quality of the construction during a
May meeting in Yerevan of Hayastan's supervisory board, which is headed
by Armenia's President Robert Kocharian and comprises senior Armenian
government officials as well as leaders of Diaspora communities around
the world. "We believe the fund must oversee things more strictly,"
he said.
The complaint was echoed by some Diaspora Armenian members of the
board who cited a continuing lack of Diaspora trust in the efficiency
of the charity and the integrity of its top executives.
But Melkumian ruled out the possibility of any financial irregularities
at Hayastan, arguing that the fund is audited twice a year by Armenian
and Western firms. She also said that only one section of the so-called
"backbone highway" was found to have been poorly constructed in 2004
and that it has since been completely rebuilt.
"At the president's instruction we sent relevant facts to the
[Karabakh] prosecutor's office," Melkumian told reporters. "The
prosecutor's office is now examining them."