Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan,
1 Nov 2006 p 3

PAPER REPORTS RIFT BETWEEN ARMENIAN FUND, KARABAKH LEADERSHIP
by Kristine Khanumyan’s

"The rift between the foundation and the NKR is widening"

The rift is widening between the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund [HAAF]
and the NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh Republic]. The reason is the low
quality of the North-South road [in Nagornyy Karabakh funded by the
HAAF]. Lots of complaints are coming from Karabakh. Both the HAAF and
the NKR authorities, which are responsible for the quality of the road,
point at each other. That is to say, both are trying to get away with
murder and leave the Karabakh residents face-to-face with the problem.

The HAAF is trying to hold the NKR authorities responsible for
everything. At a recent news conference, the executive director of the
HAAF [and former NKR foreign minister], Naira Melkumyan, said that they
were not responsible for the roads whose guarantee had expired. She
also made one more interesting statement. She said that before 2005
there was no word about the low quality of the North-South road
(although those sectors of the road were put into operation earlier)
but that statements were made later saying that the roads had been
in bad repair since 2004.

As a result, the problem was discussed at the trustees’ council after
which the president of the trustees’ council, [Armenian President]
Robert Kocharyan, said that the cases of the companies which carried
out low-quality work should be referred to the prosecutor’s office.

In brief, Kocharyan "gave his approval" for the sending of the cases
of several persons close to Gukasyan to the prosecutor’s office. But
until today no action has been taken against companies such as Vrezh or
Chanshin although their cases were sent to the prosecutor’s office in
May, but this could be predicted. A few days ago the HAAF was asked
to submit some clarifying papers.

This time round a tougher approach has been taken towards the
programmes implemented by the HAAF in Karabakh, in particular the
asphalting of the roads was considered to be of poor quality.

Melkumyan said that she did not agree with this assessment and asked
who could assess the quality of asphalt. We should tell the HAAF
leadership that the dean of the architecture department of the State
University of Architecture, Artur Tovmasyan, is the person.