Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 29
By Elchin Mehdiyev – Trend:
Armenian soldiers in Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region are unhappy that they are forced to transfer money to the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, political analyst Ehtiram Ashirli told Trend Nov. 29.
He said that an annual telethon of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund was held in Los Angeles Nov. 22.
“This time during the fundraising campaign conducted under the slogan 'Create Together', the amount of funds raised was $11,109,633,” he said. “With the help of these funds, illegal activity is carried out in the occupied Karabakh. However, according to information, soldiers and officers of military units of the Armenian army illegally deployed in Karabakh are forced to transfer money to this fund. Officers are required to transfer 5,000 drams to the fund’s account, ensigns have to transfer 3,000 drams, contract soldiers have to transfer 1,000 drams, and the military personnel has to pay 100 drams. According to the information, the servicemen who don’t observe this instruction encounter problems.”
He noted that the Armenian Ministry of Defense annually transfers a certain amount to the fund’s account, but then these funds are collected from military personnel, and this causes discontent among them every year.
“The money from the servicemen was collected only in military units deployed in Karabakh,” the analyst said. “A spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry, calling this a terrible thing, added that he doesn’t have such information and declined to give additional information.”
The funds raised during the telethons amounted to $12,505,456 in 2017, $15,428,777 in 2016, $10,378,465 in 2015 and $12,399,550 in 2014.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.