President Armen Sarkissian (right) meets with Hayastan Armenia Fund Executive Director Hayakak Arshamyan on Oct. 18 2018
YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—President Armen Sarkissian announced on Wednesday plans to call an emergency meeting of the governing board of a pan-Armenian charity two months after criticizing the use of funds raised by it for Nagorno-Karabakh during the autumn war with Azerbaijan.
The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund launched an international fundraising campaign immediately after the outbreak of the war on September 27. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians from around the world responded to its appeal for urgent aid to Karabakh, donating roughly $170 million within weeks.
The charity headquartered in Yerevan redirected more than $100 million of those proceeds to Armenia’s government. The Armenian Finance Ministry said on November 24 that the sum will finance the government’s “infrastructure, social and healthcare expenditures” necessitated by the six-week war.