Category: 2018

1 -        Commentary

            Should Armenia Grant Citizenship

            To Foreign Investors?

            By Harut Sassounian

            Publisher, The California Courier

            www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

2-         AGBU Unfazed as Some Members Decry Organizational Mismanagement

            By Jenny Yettem

3-         2018 Armenia Fund Thanksgiving Day Telethon Raises $11,109,633

4 -        Turkish Police Detain Academics, Activists, Journalists in Raids

5-         Anthony Brindisi defeats Claudia Tenney in NY 22nd Congressional race

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1 -        Commentary

            Should Armenia Grant Citizenship

            To Foreign Investors?

            By Harut Sassounian

            Publisher, The California Courier

            www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

The Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has made
attracting overseas investors the priority of his new government.

So far, it is too early to determine whether foreign investors are
interested in doing business in Armenia. The common explanation for
the lack of new investors is that they are waiting for the results of
Parliamentary elections scheduled for December 9, 2018. It is expected
that the Acting Prime Minister’s political party will win the majority
of the Parliamentary seats. Government officials believe that this
will encourage foreigners to start investing in Armenia.

However, there is an additional way that Armenia can attract new
foreign investors relatively quickly by offering them citizenship.
Many countries around the world have offered such citizenship
opportunities to foreigners, including the United States, Europe and
third world countries.

Earlier this year, the hetq.am investigative website published an
article on Arton Capital, a company that specializes in “citizenship
by investment” programs around the world. A delegation from the
company visited Armenia last year at the invitation of the
International Center for Migration Policy Development. Anton Capital’s
website stated after the visit: “the concept of citizenship by
investment was embraced by [Armenia’s] high level officials at the
Ministry of Economic Development and Investments, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the Presidential Administration, the Central Bank,
the Police, the State Migration Service and the Center for Strategic
Initiatives.”

Armand Arton, a Bulgarian-Armenian, is the President of Arton Capital,
and Emil Shahmooradian is the company’s Vice President of Business
Development. Arton Capital has offices in a dozen countries. On his
company’s website, Armand Arton stated: “as a proud Armenian, I am
honored to offer my years of professional experience and acute
know-how to help the country meet its foreign direct investment goals.
In support of its philanthropic commitment, Arton Capital has pledged
to donate the consulting fees awarded by the contract to help refugees
in Armenia. More than 20,000 Syrians, many of whom are ethnically
Armenian, have found refuge in Armenia since the Syrian war began in
2011.”

Countries offering such a program require from foreigners different
levels of investment to qualify for citizenship. Arton Capital
recommends that Armenia require the small amount of $50,000 as a
minimum investment for a foreigner to become a citizen. Other
countries demand much more from foreign investors with the most
attractive countries asking as much as $10 million of investment for
citizenship. The Company estimates that Armenia would receive $138
million of additional revenue in the next six years, if it implements
the suggested investment for the citizenship program.

According to hetq.am, Arton Capital recommended that “Armenia offer
potential investors two options: a $50,000 direct contribution to a
state-owned fund or a $100,000 investment in a fund run by an asset
management company chosen by the government, which would offer the
possibility of some return. It further suggests that Armenia sets two
types of fees. The first would be a non-refundable processing fee of
up to $10,000; the second fee, the amount of which is not specified,
would cover background checks into applicants’ records and sources of
income.”

Arton Capital’s trip report on Armenia “highlights the country’s
positives, such as its strong ties to global economic hubs and its
geographic and cultural proximity to strategic markets. Armenia offers
investors access to Russia and almost all the post-Soviet states,
which means around 250 million potential consumers, including in
Central Asia—plus almost 82 million more in neighboring Iran, with
which the country has friendly relations.

And if the country achieves visa-free access to the Schengen zone,
which it might in five to seven years, it could justly claim to have
recreated its historic role as a stop on the Silk Road linking east
and west. As a whole, investors looking for long-term value can be
sold on the advantages of Armenia. With [visa-free access] to 60+
countries and its special relationship with Russia together with its
geographical proximity with Iran, obtaining an Armenian citizenship
will be seen not only as a means to secure one’s future and security,
but also as a strategic move for one’s business development and
positioning.”

Significantly, hetq.am cautioned in its article that some foreigners
interested in investing in other countries for the sake of acquiring
citizenship can bring with them all sorts of illegal activities, such
as tax evasion, money laundering, corruption and organized crime.

Armenian government officials have to balance the benefits of the
investment for citizenship program with its drawbacks. Foreign
applicants have to be thoroughly vetted before being granted Armenian
citizenship in return for their investments.

Update on Armenian-American Candidates in US Elections

In addition to the list of Armenian-American candidates in the U.S.
midterm elections that I reported in an earlier article, we should
add:

– Dick Harpootlian (Democrat) was elected to the South Carolina State
Senate on November 6, 2018. He won 52.3 percent of the votes against
his Republican rival Benjamin Dunn’s 47.6 percent.

– Anthony Brindisi (Democrat) was elected a Member of Congress from
upstate New York on Nov. 6, 2018, according to the final count of the
vote. Brindisi’s great grandparents were born in Mardin, southeastern
Turkey and fled during the Armenian Genocide to Aleppo, where his
grandfather was born. As of January 2019, there will be three
Armenian-Americans in the U.S. House of Representatives: Brindisi,
Eshoo, and Speier.

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2-         AGBU Unfazed as Some Members Decry Organizational Mismanagement

            By Jenny Yettem

LOS ANGELES (The California Courier)—A letter originating from a group
of signatories based in Cyprus, Switzerland, Lebanon and Bulgaria that
was directed in October to the New York headquarters of the Armenian
General Benevolent Union (AGBU) President Berge Setrakian and members
of the Central Board was submitted to The California Courier on
November 15.

The “dedicated but highly concerned AGBU members” said they “wished to
raise certain critically important issues with AGBU’s
leadership”—which they describe as a specific set of recommendations,
coupled with a critical analysis of the organization’s method of
operating over the last two decades. They expressed their
dissatisfaction with the organization’s response to their letter
saying, “the AGBU Central Board essentially rejected our calls for
genuine dialogue and indicated their refusal to engage with members in
any meaningful way over the issues of greater transparency,
interaction with and involvement of grassroots members in the running
of the organization, and the need for accountability and
democratization within the organization.”

The signatories—Tigran Kalaydjian, Taline Ouzounian Avakian, Stephanos
Kamakian, Nar Khatchadourian, Nigol Vanian, Jilda Demiryan, Seta
Seraydarian Essade, Leyla Terzian Cermak, Vicken Bayramian, and Sonia
Bedrossian, a number of who are former AGBU Chapter chairs and have
long been involved in AGBU activities—said the “current momentous
changes underway in our homeland have provided Armenians everywhere
with a new burst of energy and a desire for introspection,” and called
upon the AGBU to urgently consider a number of issues “that we believe
require immediate redress” in order to “avoid the errors and omissions
that have cast a shadow over its glorious history in recent decades”
saying that “whilst we hold the AGBU’s multifaceted innovative
programs, as well as the work and dedication of its senior leadership,
in high regard, we are of the opinion that the organization must
undertake internal reforms that will allow it to become an institution
that adheres to the principles of transparency, accountability and
democratic process.”

According to the signatories, the decline in grassroots involvement in
the operations of AGBU and in particular in its decision-making
procedures, could be traced back to the “prejudicial” 1996 Convention,
which “in effect cut loose the rank-and-file from the central bodies
of the organization.”

The signatories said this structural shift is keenly apparent today,
particularly with the advent of social media, application and
networking technologies that would otherwise allow for the instant
relaying of opinions and votes from disparate members spread across
continents. “The technological advances that now securely permit (and
indeed necessitate) high levels of involvement and interaction between
a Center and its branches were simply not in existence in previous
decades. But they are now. It is our opinion, and one that is shared
widely, that the organs making critical decisions on behalf of the
entire organization not only do not take account of the views, ideas
and reservations of individual Chapter members, but furthermore, have
little interest in them. This has led to a situation where grassroots
members justifiably feel that the select few running the AGBU in a
‘command and control’ format hold the ideas and sentiments of ordinary
members in contempt—and has created an organizational infrastructure
that allows those feedback loops to be easily and summarily ignored.
This is neither a design that is becoming of the legacy of our
organization, nor one that is in sync with the values of the new
Armenia,” the signatories said in the letter.

The signatories explained that the outcome of not utilizing such
technology has been a “glaring, palpable disconnect between the
Central Board—reflected in the actions it takes and the statements it
releases—and rank-and-file members who may well have opposing views on
crucial matters and who would want those views to be taken into
account” that was particularly apparent during the recent Velvet
Revolution in Armenia during which the signatories noted the “Central
Board did not once formally request the views and positions of a
single Chapter, even ones whose members were acquainted with or
closely connected to the protagonists of the events in question. The
position of the organization both politically and socially was thus
compromised and fragmented, as a supposed representative voice for a
global amalgamate of chapters.”

According to the signatories, the AGBU’s reactions were not
well-aligned to the reality or appropriate to the events underway in
Yerevan from April to May 2018, during which tens of thousands of
people from all walks of life rose up in defiance against a corrupt,
discredited, autocratic regime and forced it to relinquish power to a
representative, law-abiding administration of their choice. “The
Central Board both misread and underestimated this movement and failed
to comprehend the motivations, aspirations and determination of the
people who had taken to the streets. AGBU rank-and-file members were
in a position to help; they could have supported the Central Board in
better understanding the true nature of those events, encouraging a
position that would not have been interpreted as complicit silence
with a discredited tyrant until the revolution was won,” wrote the
signatories. “The inability to mobilize, analyze and react in sync
with the incredible international grassroots of the AGBU is not the
only problem; the excessively close personal relationships between
certain Board members and the former ruling elite of Armenia also
prevented the objective positioning that would have reflected the true
mission of the organization. Rather than being committed exclusively
to the institutions of state and the professional channels of exchange
with bodies that represent the country and Nation, some members were
so intimately connected to figures like Serge Sargsyan and Garegin II
that they failed (and fail, still) to see the big picture. Those
relationships facilitated acceptance of a misconfigured and truncated
view of developments presented to them by these individuals; both of
whom, we have now seen, have lost credibility and respect in Armenian
society and the Diaspora at large,” said the signatories.

In their letter, the signatories said that the logistical and
practical limitations cited by the Central Board in previous years no
longer apply but that very few visible or practical measures have been
taken in recent years to address the issues of operational and
communications management. The signatories explained that dozens of
technical solutions are available on the market today at reasonable
prices, and cited new transnational organizations such as The
Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEm25)—a pan-European,
cross-border movement political movement launched in 2015 to help
repair the flagging European Union—and the tools they utilize to
engage and liaise with their members. “Few organizations can claim to
have members who feel as engaged, appreciated and respected as DiEM25,
and this has encouraged those members to participate more
energetically in the movement’s progress and take responsibility for
its actions, in whose evolution they feel they have played a decisive
role. This is in stark contrast with the modus operandi of the AGBU
since 1996,” the signatories said in the letter, proposing that the
AGBU consider “the relatively minor investment that is required to
license or develop the platform needed to ensure grassroots members
from across the world are properly and directly engaged.”

According to the signatories, valid (paid) memberships can easily be
verified through individual Chapters and managed at low cost through a
central database, and then these members can be consulted on major
issues concerning the AGBU and its future courses of action. “This
should include consultation, and in certain cases a binding vote, on
all major issues,” said the signatories, citing DiEM25 that operates a
dynamic online presence and utilizes secure methods of communicating
with registered members. “It regularly provides feedback to its
rank-and-file about what policy discussions are taking place, and
requests members to vote on actions it proposes to take or statements
it proposes to issue. These votes are not compulsory, and depending on
the issue concerned may or may not be binding; however the effect of
addressing members directly and requesting their feedback is highly
stimulating.”

The signatories suggested that the AGBU could utilize similar
technology to allow members to vote on proposed candidatures for
membership of the Central Board; nominations of candidates for the
Central Board by rank-and-file members; whether all future Presidents
of the AGBU should be limited to a maximum of two consecutive terms (a
reform that the undersigned support); and examine the wording of major
policy statements issued, such as those released during the recent
political revolution in Armenia.

The signatories explained that such consultations (and voting) on
major issues could be conducted and the results analyzed in less than
24 hours, and therefore would not be a limiting or delaying factor
when urgent action is required.

“Ultimately, we seek to be supportive of the future of the AGBU and
help address the reputational issues that have been amplified by a
modus operandi that treats the views and opinions of ordinary AGBU
members with disdain. This began more than a decade ago when the
decision to unilaterally shut down the Melkonian Educational Institute
in Cyprus was taken. Almost every Armenian in our global community
knows well that Melkonian has been languishing in a state of
scandalous neglect for thirteen years now, a period of time that was
certainly long enough for alternative viable, creative,
revenue-generating uses for the buildings and site to be applied. The
outcome would have been different had there been the capacity to
design an alternative viable plan drawing on the resources and
capabilities of global members,” said the signatories, who called upon
the AGBU Central Board to urgently implement internal reforms that
would usher the organization into modern technological and democratic
times.

“All members should have the option and right to have un-politicized,
objective, transparent and systematic interaction with the Center,
including a regular transfer of views, assessments and opinions prior
to important policy decisions being taken. We also request greater
transparency with regard to Central Board meetings and decision-making
procedures. This is long overdue and is completely in tune with the
expectations of our new generation of Armenians. The social, economic,
political and community development of our people in the 21st century
will be radically different than the current unsatisfactory status
quo. We are convinced that the esteem in which the AGBU and its
various programs and chapters are held will only increase when these
needed reforms of its operations, information infrastructure and
management are implemented,” said the signatories.

Upon receiving the October 11 letter, the AGBU responded to the
signatories, noting that the letter had been received and shared with
members of the Executive Committee of the AGBU Central Board.

“AGBU has a long and proud 112-year history of transparent governance
and clear bylaws that are closely followed. Most importantly, we have
an irrefutable history of benevolence, touching 500,000 lives across
the globe each year. With respect to the Republic of Armenia, we
continue our established policies and actions: unreserved support to
the nation, and we enjoy a straight-forward and supportive
relationship with the present government, as we did with each of its
predecessors,” wrote AGBU Central Board Secretary Sarkis Jebejian in
the letter on behalf of the Executive Committee of the organization.
“As you know, our membership is invited to a General Assembly every
two years. This is an opportunity to discuss programs, follow progress
on various initiatives and address questions, all with a collaborative
spirit of partnership and constructive dialogue for the good of the
Armenian nation and people around the world. We will continue to
operate in that same manner going forward and welcome the
participation of every Armenian who shares our organization’s vision
and mission. As always, if you wish to discuss any issues regarding
the organization, we are available.”

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3 -    2018 Armenia Fund Thanksgiving Day Telethon Raises $11,109,633

On Thanksgiving Day, Armenia Fund hosted its 21st annual telethon,
raising $11,109,633 thanks to the contributions of supporters from
around the world. The organization continued to accept donations after
the telecast.

This year’s telethon theme was “Create Together” and donations
received are slated to be used for major infrastructure projects in
Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh). One of them is aimed at
expanding local irrigation networks while the other seeks to support
greater use of solar energy by Karabakh households

On the eve of Telethon 2018, President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian—who
serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Fund—visited the
Yerevan headquarters of the Hayastan All Armenia Fund where he signed
a pledge card for some 5.7 million AMD (approx. $12,000), equivalent
to his salary for six months. Sarkissian will also donate his salary
for the next six months to the fund. Acting Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinyan donated 1 million AMD from the Prime Minister’s fund, and
also made a personal contribution of 500,000 AMD ($3000 in total).
Pashinyan made a live televised appeal to Armenians around the world
during this visit to the headquarters, urging patrons to donate more
funds to the charity, stressing the importance of its projects
implemented in Armenia and Karabakh.

Artur Vanetsyan, Head of the National Security Service, visited
Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Yerevan where he delivered a contribution
of 9.5 million AMD (approximately $20,000) on behalf of the National
Security Service; Vanetsyan also donated one month of his personal
salary to the telethon.

The biggest donations came from: an anonymous benefactor ($2.5
million); Iranian-Armenian philanthropists Henrik and Adrine
Ter-Ghukasyan ($1.34 million) for the renovation of a key road in
Artsakh; Grand Holding owners Karen and Mikayel Vardanyan (AMD 60
million or approx. $123,000) for the renovation of the road connecting
the Armenian towns of Dilijan and Ijevan; and U.S.-based Armenians
Andranik Baghdasarian and Albert A. Boyajian, who donated $1 million
each. Alex Holding donated $200,000.

Armenia Fund received $12.5 million and $15.5 million in donations
during the 2017 and 2016 telethons, respectively.

As in previous years, the Thanksgiving Day telethon featured prominent
members of the Armenian community in the United States and Karabakh
Armenian leaders.

It was broadcast by Armenian and U.S.-Armenian TV channels.

Armenia Fund has implemented over $350 million worth of projects in
Armenia and Artsakh since its inception in 1992.

The fund’s current Board of Trustees is headed by Sarkissian, and
comprises Pashinyan and other senior Armenian state officials;
Catholicos Karekin II, as well as prominent members of Armenian
communities around the world.

The organization’s activities were overshadowed in July by the arrest
and ensuing resignation of its then executive director, Ara Vartanian
following an embezzlement scandal. Although Vartanian admitted using
Hayastan’s money for online gambling and other “personal purposes” he
avoided prosecution after reportedly compensating the charity.

Pashinyan’s government has since pledged to help ensure greater
transparency in the fund’s activities.

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4 -        Turkish Police Detain Academics, Activists, Journalists in Raids

ANKARA (Associated Press)— On November 16, Turkish police detained 13
academics, activists and journalists over links to a jailed
businessman and human rights defender, and allegations that they
sought to topple the government by supporting mass protests during
2013.

Anadolu Agency said professors Betul Tanbay and Turgut Tarhanli of
Istanbul’s Bosphorus and Bilgi universities, and journalist Cigdem
Mater were among those detained in simultaneous police operations in
Istanbul and in three provinces. Other detainees include Asena Günal,
Ayşegül Güzel, Bora Sarı, Filiz Telek, Hakan Altınay, Hande Özhabeş,
Meltem Aslan, Yiğit Ali Emekçi, Yiğit Aksakoğlu, and Yusuf Cıvır. They
were being questioned over their links to the Anatolia Culture
Association founded by Osman Kavala, a philanthropist businessman who
was arrested a year ago and accused of attempts to “abolish” the
constitutional order and the government. No indictment has been issued
against him. Anadolu said police are searching for seven other people
linked to the association, which says it aims to promote peace and
minority rights through culture.

The group is suspected of trying to bring down the government by
fomenting “chaos and disorder” through their alleged involvement in
efforts to expand anti-government protests that grew from opposition
to the cutting down of trees at Istanbul’s Gezi Park. Authorities
suspect that Kavala used the association, as well as a foundation that
he also headed, to finance and organize efforts to broaden the
protests, the agency reported.

The detentions drew criticism from the European Union, which called
the development “alarming,” and from human rights groups. “The
repeated detentions of critical voices and the continued widespread
pressure on civil society representatives run counter to the Turkish
government’s declared commitment to human rights and to fundamental
freedoms,” the EU said a statement. The statement said the detentions
would be raised during a high-level EU visit to Ankara next week.

Amnesty International’s Turkey Strategy and Research Manager Andrew
Gardner said: “This latest wave of detentions of academics and
activists, on the basis of absurd allegations, shows that the
authorities are intent on continuing their brutal crackdown of
independent civil society.”

 Since an attempted coup in 2016, Turkey’s government has been accused
of stifling freedom of _expression_ by arresting thousands of people for
alleged connections to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey
blames for the failed attempt, or links to terror groups. It has
purged many more people from state institutions and jailed dozens of
journalists.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called Kavala “Turkey’s
Soros,” a reference to American billionaire George Soros, whose Open
Society Foundations have funded education, health, justice and media
projects around the world. Pro-government media in Turkey accuse
Kavala of engaging in anti-government conspiracies.

Eleven prominent activists, including Amnesty International’s former
Turkey chairman, were arrested last year at their hotel on an island
off of Istanbul while training. They were eventually released from
jail pending the outcome of their trial for supporting terror groups.

Separately on November 16, police detained 86 people, most of them
former Air Force personnel, in operations across Turkey and were
looking for 100 others for alleged links to Gulen’s movement, Anadolu
reported.

More than 15,000 people have been purged from the military since the
coup, Turkey’s defense minister has said. The cleric denies
involvement in the coup.

“It is telling that the detentions are part of the investigation into
the jailed civil society leader, Osman Kavala, who—more than a year
after his detention—is yet to be indicted or have evidence of an
internationally recognized crime presented against him. Osman Kavala
and all those detained today must be immediately and unconditionally
released and the crackdown against Turkey’s independent civil society
must be brought to an end,” said Gardner.

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5-         Anthony Brindisi defeats Claudia Tenney in NY 22nd Congressional race

By Chris Baker

On November 20, Democrat Anthony Brindisi won the race for New York’s
22nd Congressional District, defeating incumbent Republican Claudia
Tenney with nearly all absentee ballots tallied—the results from
absentee votes gave Brindisi a lead too large for Tenney to overcome.

The race was too close to call on election day two weeks ago. Brindisi
finished the day with a 1,293 vote lead over Tenney. Tenney said she
would not concede until learning the results of more than 15,000
absentee ballots.

With nearly all those absentee ballots counted in the district, Tenney
now has no possible chance for victory. Brindisi grew his lead as each
county reported absentee totals.

Tuesday afternoon, the Oneida County Board of Elections reported
absentee ballots had been counted in 109 of 192 election districts.
Oneida County is the last of eight counties in the district to finish
counting absentee ballots.

Brindisi won 1,529 of the Oneida County absentees, compared to 755 for
Tenney. Even if Tenney won all of the 1,881 remaining ballots, she
would still come up short of Brindisi.

Tenney has not conceded and her campaign has not responded to requests
for comment.

Brindisi released a statement Tuesday evening claiming victory.

“As I said on Election night, I’ll work to be a representative for our
entire community,” he said. “I’m humbled that I’ll have the honor to
represent this district in Congress. Now that this campaign is behind
us, I look forward to a smooth transition with Congresswoman Tenney to
ensure that we hit the ground running in January.”

On November 20, Brindisi led Tenney 125,925 to 121,957.

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