1- Pres. Aliyev’s 11-Year-Old Son Owned
$45 Million Property in Central London
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- Palestinian-Armenian dispute over Jerusalem land deal intensifies
3- Letter to the Editor
4- Yvette Vartanian Davis Elected to
CA Community College Trustees’ Board of Directors
5- Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19
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1- Pres. Aliyev’s 11-Year-Old Son Owned
$45 Million Property in Central London
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
This sensational report was exposed by the international news media on
Oct. 3, 2021. While this is not the first time it has been revealed
that the family of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has purchased
hundreds of millions of dollars of properties in foreign countries
through offshore companies, it is the latest and most detailed such
scandalous news.
The report about Aliyev’s 11-year-old son Heydar Aliyev was exposed by
the Pandora Papers—the largest collection of leaks of concealed
financial documents. These secret files were organized by the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with the
participation of over 650 reporters worldwide. The records contain
“nearly 12 million documents and files from 14 financial service
companies in several countries, the British Virgin Islands, Panama,
Belize, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Switzerland,”
according to the BBC.
While many of “the revealed transactions involve no legal wrongdoing,”
there are serious “concerns that some property buyers could be hiding
money-laundering activities,” the BBC stated. “Offshore companies can
offer to help people hide dodgy cash or avoid tax. They are using
those offshore accounts, those offshore trusts, to buy hundreds of
millions of dollars of property in other countries, and to enrich
their own families, at the expense of their citizens,” added Fergus
Shiel from ICIJ.
The BBC went on to report that “The Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
and his family, who have been accused of looting their own country,
are one example. The investigation found the Aliyevs and their close
associates have secretly been involved in property deals in the UK
worth more than £400 million [$540 million]. Azerbaijan’s ruling
Aliyev family, long accused of corruption, have built a vast offshore
network to hide their money.” Pres. Aliyev’s annual salary is
$228,000.
BBC also revealed that the Aliyevs bought 17 buildings in the UK,
including an entire block of office buildings in the posh Mayfair area
of London for $45 million in 2009 for the president’s 11-year-old son,
Heydar Aliyev, who was then in grade school.
The Aliyevs bought another building in London for $47 million in 2008
and sold it in 2018 for $89 million, making a profit of $42 million.
The Aliyevs sold that property “to the Crown Estate—the Queen’s
property empire that is managed by The [UK] Treasury and raises cash
for the nation.” BBC reported that “The Crown Estate said it carried
out the checks required in law at the time of purchase but is now
looking into the matter.”
A separate article on the ICIJ website, under the title of “The Power
Players,” highlighted the incredible wealth of Azerbaijan President’s
three children: Arzu Aliyeva, Heydar Aliyev, and Leyla Aliyeva.
The ICIJ article explained that “Ilham Aliyev became president of
Azerbaijan in a 2003 election widely regarded as manipulated…. He has
de facto control over the state oil fund, which generates annual
revenue of $9 billion. His presidency has been marked by brutal
political crackdowns and human rights violations, including the
imprisonment and torture of journalists and dissidents. Despite
accusations of running a kleptocracy, Aliyev maintains close
relationships with European leaders through what has come to be known
as ‘caviar diplomacy.’ The 2017 Azerbaijani Laundromat investigation
by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project revealed how
almost $3 billion linked to Aliyev was laundered through shell
companies, with much of the proceeds spent on gifts for European
politicians. Other media investigations, including ICIJ’s Offshore
Leaks and Panama Papers, have shown that the Aliyev family controls
significant wealth in Azerbaijan and that the president’s three
children also own properties in the U.K. and Dubai.”
ICIJ further revealed that “The Pandora Papers provide a view of the
startling scale of the Aliyev children’s luxury property investments.
They were shareholders of 44 companies registered in the British
Virgin Islands between 2006 and 2018. The records show the children
owned five companies used to buy more than $120 million worth of
high-end London properties between 2006 and 2009, many of which were
later sold for vast profits.”
Besides the $45 million London office building owned by then
11-year-old Heydar Aliyev, his sister Arzu purchased anther office
building one block away through an offshore company for $47 million.
“In 2009, a company owned by the eldest child, Leyla Aliyeva, bought a
$13.5 million corner building behind London’s Oxford Circus, which has
housed a string of businesses run by Aliyev family friends,” according
to ICIJ.
In an effort to obscure the ownership of these properties, “starting
in 2013, the children transferred shares in their offshore companies
to their maternal grandfather, Arif Pashayev. The holdings were later
transferred to a series of trusts based in the Isle of Man, a British
dependency and secrecy haven. Pashayev and two close associates bought
further properties in and around London worth more than $500 million
between 2006 and 2017,” ICIJ revealed. Not surprisingly, none of the
Aliyev family members responded to ICIJ’s repeated requests for
comment.
While it is disgraceful that funds belonging to the citizens of
Azerbaijan were misused, the good news for Armenians is that
Azerbaijan did not use these large sums to purchase more arms, to
inflict further damage on the people of Armenia and Artsakh!
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2- Palestinian-Armenian dispute over Jerusalem land deal intensifies
JERUSALEM—The Synod of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem issued a
statement on September 9 ratifying and confirming the decision to
lease the lands owned by the patriarchate in Goveroun Bardez to a
company which will build a hotel (this statement appeared in The
California Courier on September 16, 2021).
The Higher Presidential Committee of Church Affairs in Palestine
issued a letter on September 22 expressing concerns about this lease.
On Sept. 22, a letter was sent by Ramzi Khoury, head of the
Palestinian Higher Presidential Committee for Churches Affairs in
Palestine, to Catholicos of All Armenians Patriarch Karekin II calling
land transactions in the Armenian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem
a violation of international law, since the area inside the Old City
is an “integral part of the Palestinian occupied territories” governed
by relevant international resolutions.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry has also been “urged to intervene,”
according to a statement by the Higher Presidential Committee.
Father Baret Yeretzian, Real Estate Director of the Armenian
Patriarchate of Jerusalem, sent an open letter to the Head of the
Palestinian higher Presidential Committee for Churches Affairs in
Palestine, responding to accusation leveled against the Armenian
Patriarchate for leasing a property in Jerusalem’s Old City known as
the Cows’ Garden to an Israeli hotel company. The California Courier
received the full text of the open letter, from Yeretzian to Khoury,
which is printed below:
“The Armenian Patriarchate is the exclusive owner of its property and
shall remain so at all times, the Patriarchate’s ownership was not
undermined under the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate, the
Jordanian and the Israeli regimes.
The un-protected lease is for a limited period of time and for the
specific purpose of a hotel.
The Patriarchate has full authority and exclusive prerogative to do as
it pleases with its properties.
The denomination and race of the counter party is irrelevant. The
Patriarchate was negotiating similar deals indiscriminately with
Armenians from Russia, with an Arab from Jordan, and people of other
nationalities none of whom followed through.
It is our duty to utilize our properties for the welfare of our
Patriarchate and we have been doing so for centuries.
Irresponsible comments that are made public might encourage extremists
to take extreme measures. One should also remember that he might be
held responsible for such consequences.
You claim that you want to protect our land, let me remind you when we
begged your committee to help us against the Abu Hawa family who
infiltrated in our property on Mount of Olives, you turned blind eye
on us, we did request also others without mentioning their names, they
did the same.
We cannot help suspecting that your criticism against us is aimed to
undermine and weaken the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in favor
of your own religious leadership who sold properties in the heart of
the Old City of Jerusalem. The Armenian Patriarchate maintains its
neutrality and un-involvement in political and racial matters. Please
do not drag us into such disputes and do not use us in order to
promote your political agenda.
Let me remind you we hold in highest esteem and sympathy the
Palestinian and Jordanian people, and I have the honor of being a
Jordanian citizen myself.”
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3- Letter to the Editor
To The Editor:
From the start of Mr. Harut Sassounian’s journey publishing The
California Courier, I looked forward to receiving the weekly issues,
In particular reading Mr. Sassounian’s thought-provoking column on
page 4.
This letter is following a lengthy telephone conversation I had with
Mr. Sassounian last week regarding matters of concern to us all
Armenians.
Mr. Sassounian’s appeal for the medical emergency fund-raising for the
children of Armenia and Artsakh came to my attention recently. This
came as no surprise as it has always been his ongoing commitment to
come to the aid of the nation of Armenia.
The ruthless war declared on Artsakh and Armenia by Azerbaijan with
the collaboration of Turkey, which took advantage of the situation to
continue its history of barbarism and genocidal fervor against
Armenians. In addition to those two mighty combined forces, the
participation of the hired mercenaries from other countries
transported to the front lines to facilitate and complete the crime.
Yet we survived. We cannot give up, we will not surrender.
The late Defense Minister of the Republic of Armenia Vasken
Sarkissian, wrote in his diary
“I fear those who do not fear, I fear those who are indifferent.”
Nor do I forget the words of the late Varsenig Abolakian, who on the
occasion of a meeting in 1999 at our home discussing establishing a
hotel in Stepanakert, in response to the question, “Will the
investment be secure?” Varsenig said, “Yete anonk arian kinov ge
vjaren, mern al togh ka tramin.” (If they are paying with their blood,
let us at least be ready to pay with money.)
These words have never left me. Call it emotional, if you wish. We are
not made of the hardest substance on earth!
With four partners we founded ‘Nairi Hotel’ in Stepanakert, 20 years
ago in 2001. Throughout the years ‘Nairi Hotel’ accommodated many
visitors, dignitaries, compatriots and other guests from around the
world. ‘A home away from home’.
It became a shelter for families from the ‘four-day war’ during April
of 2016 and again with a larger numbers of refugees who are still
living there from the 44-day war that began on September 27, 2020
which resulted in incalculable damage and loss of life and our lands
in Artsakh.
Of course I would contribute to participate in Mr. Sassounian’s current project.
It seems this is part of our destiny, our inheritance, an ongoing
burden. So be it.
It is a fact that our people gets together in times of need and under
immense pressure and at critical times I believe most respond
generously and continue to help the homeland and the children of our
beloved Armenia. We are thankful for the support of our compatriots.
Please allow me to acknowledge Mr. Sassounian’s contribution to our
people and homeland. In his own way, he has set the standard and
example to follow. I still remember on one occasion visiting Mr.
Sassounian in his office in Los Angeles. His complimentary remarks
touched me and have touched me since. He is a rare individual. Thank
you, Harut, for your relentless work to help the people of our
homeland.
Varoojan Iskenderian
Sydney, Australia
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4- Yvette Vartanian Davis Elected to
CA Community College Trustees’ Board of Directors
The Glendale Community College District (GCCD) Board of Trustees is
proud to announce the election of Trustee Yvette Vartanian Davis to
the California Community College Trustees’ Board of Directors (CCCT).
The 21 member CCCT Board takes positions on and formulates education
policy issues that come before the California Community Colleges’
Board of Governors, the State Legislature, and other relevant
state-level boards and commissions.
Trustee Vartanian Davis is the first Armenian American woman in
California to serve in this prestigious role, having received a vote
of confidence by trustees serving the 116 community colleges and with
more than 2.1 million students attending community colleges in
California. She was the second highest recipient of votes in
California which indicates the respect she has garnered amongst her
peers during her first term.
“It is rare that a trustee in her first elected term reaches this
level of accomplishment,” said Dr. Armine Hacopian, GCC Board
President.
Vartanian Davis was elected as a Trustee of (GCCD) Board in 2017,
representing the South Glendale District where she resides. In
addition, in 2020-2021, she was unanimously elected as President of
the GCCD Board.
Trustee Ann Ransford, a former CCCT Board President herself and a
current member, who is the Vice-President of GCCD Board of Trustees,
expressed that “Trustee Yvette Vartanian Davis always puts students
and their success at the heart of her decisions. Having representation
at the state level continues to put GCCD at the center of community
college issues and provides the GCCD Board with current policies, data
and information.”
According to Dr. Viar, GCCD Superintendent/President “…as state laws,
regulations, and funding are under review in Sacramento, it is
essential that Glendale Community College needs are understood and
addressed. Trustee Davis’ role on the state board is pivotal and
provides GCCD that needed advocacy and recognition on behalf of our
students and our community.”
It is important to note that the hard work of Vartanian Davis has been
recognized by multiple associations and she has been honored for her
leadership roles as she continues to serve on various boards. Through
her volunteer work, Yvette Vartanian Davis has been able to serve and
support various global organizations with the purpose of improving the
quality of life for those in need of a helping hand.
Vartanian Davis plans on running for the Glendale Community College
Board again and she is very appreciative of the mentorship provided to
her by Trustee Ann Ransford, Dr. Hacopian, and Dr. Viar.
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5- Armenia Continues Fight Against COVID-19
Armenia is continuing the fight against the third wave of COVID-19
cases, as the country continues promoting the vaccination phase.
The U.S. State Department on July 26 warned American citizens to
reconsider travel to Armenia due to the increase in cases of the
Covid-19.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a
Level 3 Travel Health Notice for Armenia due to COVID-19, indicating a
high level of COVID-19 in the country,” said the State Department.
The State Department also urged U.S. citizens not to travel to the
Nagorno-Karabakh region due to armed conflict.
“The U.S. government is unable to provide emergency services to U.S.
citizens in Nagorno-Karabakh as U.S. government employees are
restricted from traveling there,” the State Department added.
There were 15,078 active cases in Armenia as of October 4. Armenia has
recorded 265,317 coronavirus cases and 5,397 deaths; 244,482 have
recovered.
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