Prime Minister and Interim Executive of Hayastan All Armenian Fund Discuss Further Functioning of the Organization

YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has held a meeting with Bedros Terzian, the acting executive director of the Hayastan All Armenian Fund who took office after Ara Vardanian stepped down.

“I am happy to see you, although I think that the development which led to this meeting isn’t that joyous and concerns the events in the Hayastan All Armenian Fund. Certainly this reality is very regretful for us, that an inadmissible act was committed by the fund’s director, but I would also like to emphasize that upon receiving the information about this we couldn’t have had another reaction, because our principle is that lawfulness should be indisputable in Armenia and no second opinion can exist here. Generally, an unclear and a some kind of an atmosphere of a certain distrust was created around the fund in the past years, this was perhaps related to the domestic political situation generally in Armenia and so on. But I hope that as a result of these processes we will be able to specify our views about the future actions of the Hayastan All Armenian Fund, and generally record new approaches about the relations of the Diaspora and Armenia, partnership formats, levels and of course the fund,” the PM said.

The PM noted he would like to hear Terzian’s view as one of the most reliable representatives of the Fund, relating to the situation. The PM thanked Terzian for assuming the leadership of the fund at this difficult time.

“The news was a great shock for us, because there hasn’t been anything like this during the history of the fund. We acted with persistence that it is a clean body. We implemented monumental projects during the past 26 years; great efforts were made to ensure the fund’s clean operations in this environment, which is hard [to do]. I think we succeeded, until this case emerged,” Terzian said.

Terzian assured he will do his best for the donations to reach their targets.

“The Hayastan All Armenian Fund is important not only with the past, but with the future, since we have great plans,” he said.

Ara Vardanian stepped down as director of the fund earlier after the revelations that he used the fund’s finances for personal goals, including online gambling.