/Armenianow.com/ Armenians around the world are preparing for their annual Thanksgiving Day telethon that will be staged for the 12th time to help a pan-Armenian charity raise money for its ongoing rehabilitation projects in Armenia and Karabakh. The money raised this year will be spent on rehabilitation projects in Shushi, a strategically important town in Karabakh.
Many this year, however, fear that large parts of the Armenian Diaspora, traditionally a key donor for the all-Armenian fund Hayastan’s projects in Armenia, might withhold their pledges of financial help, reflecting disgruntlement at the recent signing of the Armenian-Turkish protocols.

Hayastan’s representative, meanwhile, expects this year’s telethon to be as effective as last year’s.

A total of around $35 million was pledged in 2008 for the fund, which implements mainly road construction, school building, rural area rehabilitation and other projects in Armenia and Karabakh. Despite the global financial and economic crisis that had already affected the world’s major economies by the time last year’s telethon was held, its total pledge in fact doubled the pledge of 2007. Nearly half the amount, $15 million, came from a single donor – Samvel Karapetyan, of Russia.

During those days many were voicing opinions that the declared results were an inflation of figures and that the fundraising was turned into a political event to raise the rating of the then newly elected president Serzh Sargsyan. Those allegations were brushed aside, but eventually it turned out that only $5 million actually reached the fund.

Hayastan Fund Executive Director Ara Vardanyan gives assurances, however, that the sum was not reduced, simply those who pledged the money have been implementing the projects themselves.

“A sum of $5 million (cash) was raised during last year’s telethon, and pledged was a total sum of $35 million. During a dinner in Yerevan on November 1, $30 million was pledged, of which the biggest pledge was made by businessman Samvel Karapetyan, $15 million for the construction of a hospital in Stepanakert, which is being built now at a very quick pace,” says Vardanyan.

According to the fund’s executive director, in the previous year wealthy businessman and MP Gagik Tsarukyan pledged $2 million for the construction of a sport school in Stepanakert, which will start soon too.

“All those who pledged those sums for projects themselves are implementing those projects and contracts have been signed with them. Therefore, the fund has received $5 million,” says Vardanyan.

This year’s fundraising is held under the name of “Our Shushi” and the raised money will be directed at the rehabilitation of main infrastructure in Shushi (some 15 km to the south of Karabakh capital Stepanakert).

The 10th phone-a-thon was held for the pan-Armenian fundraising (staged since 1992) in Paris on November 19-22. During this campaign (that covered also other European countries with large Armenian diasporas) a pledge of 1.2 million euros was raised. According to director of the Hayastan fund’s local body in France Petros Terzian, this is 10 percent higher than the phone-a-thon pledge of last year.

It was Paris that became a scene of major Armenian protests against protocols with Turkey when President Serzh Sargsyan was visiting as part of his weeklong Diaspora tour in early October.
“The protocols can in no way obstruct the fundraising; these are completely different issues, this is a humanitarian action,” Terzian tells ArmeniaNow. “There are people who are against this policy, but the telethon [phone-a-thon] has proved that people have remained firm in their position in this matter.”

According to Terzian, the greatest risk that the pledged funding might be lower is the continuing global economic recession, which he says, however, hasn’t yet had a major impact.

The telethon will start on November 26, at 8.00 pm Yerevan time and will last for 12 hours, broadcast on KSCI 18 channel, on Los Angeles Armenian-Russian 24-hour TV air and through satellite and internet networks of the Armenian TV station Horizon, and in Armenia it will be broadcast by Public Television.

 

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