Armenian soldiers in occupied Karabakh forced to pay money
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Armenia has completed another collection of taxes from the diaspora held under the title of charity marathon of the Hayastan Foundation.
Soldiers and officers of units of the Armenian armed forces stationed in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan oblige to transfer money to the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund. The officers should collect and transfer 5,000 drams ($10), sergeants - 3,000 each ($6), contract servicemen - 1,000 ($2), military servicemen - 100 drams ($0.2). Military personnel who refuse to pay taxes face artificial problems in a military unit. Moreover, it turns out, this is not the first year.
Most surprisingly, with the new regime, nothing has changed. It becomes interesting if the acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan knows what is happening in the army. It is obvious that after the revolution, the foundation continues to act in its own style, robbing the people of Armenia. Either they have a "so-called" protection from someone, or they act by their own initiative, or the revolution still has not reached occupied Karabakh.
Spokesman for Armenia's Defense Minister Artsrun Hovhannisyan, in an interview with the Armenian media, said that he did not withhold information about the taxes for the fund.
It is strange that the media did not turn to the so-called "army of defense" of Karabakh for comment, but to the head of the press service of the Defense Ministry. There are ideas that Artsrun Hovhannisyan should have said “I have nothing to do with it,” but he did not.
If Yerevan asserts that occupied Karabakh is an "independent state", then why should a foreigner be in charge of the situation in the local military units?
Thus, the media, without realizing it, have demonstrated that everything in the occupied territories is under the control of Yerevan and the local military units under the Ministry of Defense of Armenia.
For a long time, the amount of funds raised by the Hayastan Fund was approximately $15 million. Over the past 5-6 years, this figure increased to $22.5 million. Last year, the amount of funds raised by the Hayastan fund amounted to $12.5 million.
After Pashinyan came to power, this amount should have increased significantly, but the numbers show a decrease.
Earlier, the director of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Ara Vardanian was detained on charges of misappropriating resources of the fund and abusing the authority.
After the director of the fund was detained, a number of programs in occupied Karabakh, including those related to elderly people, experienced great difficulties in financing.
Vardanyan’s lawyer, Yervand Varosyan, argues that there was no appropriation and disbursement of the fund’s resources. In any case, the reputation of the fund suffered tremendous damage.
What is obvious some people in Armenian do not have anything holy and are able to reach into the pockets for funds intended for elderly people.
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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
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