IN KARABAKH THEY ARE EAGER TO KNOW WHY ARMENIA FOUNDATION DOES NOT HURRY

Lragir.am
01 Aug 06

The society in Nagorno Karabakh is worried why Armenia Foundation
does not hurry to start the reconstruction of Martakert, for which 7
million dollars were raised during the November 2005 telethon. The
Lragir has wrote about this for several times, pointing to the
controversies between the NKR government and the leadership of Armenia
Foundation. We have written that the Karabakh government does not
want Naira Melkumyan to continue to be the chief executive of the
foundation. The prime minister of Karabakh announced two months
ago that the foundation is to blame for postponing the project
of reconstruction of Martakert. Afterwards the foundation made an
official release on the reconstruction of the project of Martakert.

The Karabakhopen.com published an article by Murad Petrosyan, the
editor of the Chto Delat Newspaper in Stepanakert where the author
says the reason of the slow pace of the foundation is that in the
Armenian reality moral reputation, sense of duty and organizational
abilities are overlooked in appointing key officials.

"If Ms. Melkumyan, the executive director of Armenia Foundation
possessed the abovementioned traits, would she sit on 5 million
dollars, which have a definite addressee, for 8 months?" asks Murad
Petrosyan.

He says the later construction of infrastructure in Martakert is
put out to tender and the longer the money for construction remains
in the bank, the more income the money will bring. "And if now Ms.

Melkumyan pays herself a salary of 2000 U.S. dollars, soon she will
be able to increase this sum up to 3-4 thousand. If presently she
has three managers and three assistants, soon she will be able to
increase their number up to 6," writes Murad Petrosyan. However, he
says, it would be wrong to blame only Naira Melkumyan for the slow
reconstruction of Martakert.

"First of all, the one who appointed her is to blame. Second, the NKR
government and NKR President Ghukasyan are to blame for this situation,
as well as the government of Armenia, and especially Robert Kocharyan,
who is the president of the board of trustees of Armenia Foundation,"
thinks Murad Petrosyan.

According to him, the laziness of the president of the board of
trustees would be explicable if only Artsakh were dissatisfied with
the activities of the foundation. Murad Petrosyan says, however,
that complaints were heard on the airwaves of Radio Liberty, which
is broadcast in the large Armenian Diasporan communities. Murad
Petrosyan writes that this is the reason why he cannot understand
the calm attitude of Robert Kocharyan towards all this, especially
that soon there will be another telethon for Shushi and Hadrut.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress