According to the press department of the President of the Republic of Nagorno Karabagh Arkadi Ghukasyan, the president left for the United States of America on November 4 with the purpose of participating in the annual Telethon on November 23 in Los Angeles.
During the visit, the president will meet with political, social and religious figures of the Armenian communities of the East and West coast of the U.S.A.
During a press conference in October, executive director of the “Hayastan” All Armenian Fund Naira Melkumyan announced that the main purpose of this year’s Telethon was to donate money for the implementation of the development project in the Hadrut region of Karabagh. She also hoped that there would be a lot of money donated during the Telethon.
As stated on the fund’s website, there will be a European Phoneathon (telephone marathon) before the start of the Telethon and the Armenian community of Belgium will join this year. As to how the Telethon will take place and how much money will be donated, how and when the projects will be implemented, it’s not clear. The thing is that recently, there were many accusations heard about the “Hayastan” All Armenian fund and there have been a lot of rumors flying around about the conflicts between the Karabagh government and the fund. However, Minister of Urbanization of Karabagh Marat Hakobjanyan says that those are just discussions concerning the work being done and not conflicts. He also confessed that there were many flaws in the job, including the fault of the constructors, the lack of supervision, etc. The construction of the “North-South” highway wasn’t completed on time or was delayed. Two stages of the Hadrut section still aren’t constructed, as well as the “Sarushen-Shosh section,” said the minister. “When will it be finished?” In response to this question, Marat Hakobjanyan said that there is one section, which was supposed to be finished by 2004-2005. He also talked about the construction of the Stepanakert-Sarushen road construction, stating that the first 8.6 kilometer section has already been asphalted, but the fund has ended the contract for constructing the 12.4 kilometer section with the contracting company. Currently, a contest has been declared for selecting a new contractor and there is no construction going on in that section. According to drivers, the road is in poor conditions and it may become difficult to pass when it starts raining.