Political analysts: distrust of Armenian authorities reduces annual telethon raisings

The donations collected during the annual telethon (TV marathon) organized by the "Hayastan" All-Armenian Foundation should help implementing important infrastructure projects, for which the budget money is not enough. However, the raised amount has decreased in comparison with the past year, and that fact can be explained by the lack of the philanthropists' confidence in the authorities of Armenia. This opinion has been expressed by political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the annual charitable telethon organized by the "Hayastan" All-Armenian Foundation under the slogan "Fruitful Artsakh" raised more than 12.5 million US dollars.

In 2016, the annual telethon held under the slogan "My Artsakh" raised more than 15.4 million US dollars. However, the largest amount of money was raised by the telethon in 2008, when the amount of donations reached 35 million US dollars.

The dynamics of the volume of funds raised during the telethon is alarming, notes political analyst Ruben Megrabyan, an expert from the Armenian Centre for Political and International Studies.

"We see a sharp decrease in the volume of raised money, and the main reason for that fact is the decrease in the confidence of the Diaspora's influential figures towards the Armenian statehood both in Armenia and Artsakh. The authorities should draw practical conclusions, since the system still remains corrupt, and that generates distrust of the authorities concerning how they will dispose of the raised funds," emphasized Ruben Megrabyan.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.