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This article has been updated since publication. The changes are noted under an asterisk (*).The title was edited as well.
Over the years, an environmental movement has formed against the operation of the Amulsar gold mine. The fight against the opening of the mine was resumed in 2018-2020.
One of the results of the fight against the operation of the mine was that the government had to pay about 400,000 dollars and order a new expert evaluation in order to have a legal basis to ban the operation of the mine.
Fact Investigation Platform revealed that some of the participants of that environmental movement indirectly received income from the country’s largest miner, the Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC). Among them are actor Sergey Danielyan, environmentalist Levon Galstyan, journalist Arman Suleymanyan, environmentalist Silva Adamyan and others.
In this article, we present the facts we have identified about the funding from ZCMC, as well as the comments of some of the mentioned persons on the matter.
The charitable organization was founded in 2014. Journalist Lika (Lilit) Tumanyan was the President of the organization. Since 2016, Elizabeth Petrosyan has been the President of the organization.
ZCMC financed the “Public Diplomacy” charitable organization headed by Elizabeth Petrosyan, the wife of the co-owner of the mine, the once Marz Governor of Syunik, the current MP of the “Armenia” faction Vahe Hakobyan, which, in turn, financed the aforementioned people.
The charitable organization was established in 2014. Journalist Lika (Lilit) Tumanyan was the president of the organization. Since 2016, Elizabeth Petrosyan has been the president of the organization.
In the same year, the “Public Diplomacy” charitable organization founded the news agency PARA TV and began to finance its activities. In fact, ZCMC started to finance PARA TV.
PARA TV was among the most active media outlets covering the environmental movement against the Amulsar mine.
In fact, most of the active citizens fighting against the operation of Amulsar were in one way or another, including financially, related to PARA TV.
It becomes more apparent as we study the posts of their Facebook pages when the protests were quite active, and one of the key topics that the public was concerned with was Amulsar.
For instance, Arman Suleymanyan and Sergey Danielyan hosted the “Hard Talk” program in this news outlet.
PARA TV released “Amulsar: State of Indifference” film produced by Arman Suleymanyan. And Sergey Danielyan actively fought against mine operation on his Facebook page, he often went live from the tents of activists fighting against the mine operation.
There are about 70 videos, live broadcasts, reportages, films, etc. on the YouTube channel of PARA TV regarding the Amulsar issue. Some of these are interviews of state officials and those responsible for the field on the risks of the mine operation. Another part of these materials, and a larger part, is about the fight against the operation of the Amulsar mine and its negative impact.
At the same time, there are only a few videos on the Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine in the media channel where the activity of the combine is presented exclusively in a positive light. These include, for instance, the official statements of the ZCMC on this or that topic, the annual reports, etc.
Thus, some of the activists and public figures fighting against Amulsar were related to PARA TV, they received salaries from there, and the media, in turn, was funded by the charitable organization financed by ZCMC.
The reports of PARA TV submitted to the tax authority in recent years listing the persons who were paid by the news outlet have become available to Fact Investigation Platform.
Among them are particularly the following persons. Their cooperation period and the amount of funds received are given below:
01.2017-07.2020 Elizabeth Petrosyan — the wife of the then director of ZCMC Vahe Hakobyan, the president of “Public Diplomacy” NGO — monthly salary from AMD 1 million 372 thousand to AMD 1 million 500 thousand.
03.2018-07.2020 Arman Suleymanyan — journalist — monthly salary of AMD 270-700,000
03.2018-03.2019 Sergey Danielyan — actor, blogger — monthly salary of AMD 130-270,000,
08.2018-03.2019 Hayk Barseghyan — environmental activist, member of the SOS initiative — monthly salary of AMD 280-300,000,
12.2016 Levon Galstyan — environmentalist — AMD 402,000,
09.2017-05.2018 Anahit Bakhshyan — Adviser on Education to the President of “Public Diplomacy” NGO — monthly salary of AMD 405,000,
01.2017-06.2018 Silva Adamyan — environmental activist, pioneer of the fight against the Amulsar mine, PARA TV employee — monthly salary of AMD 70,000,
Fact Investigation Platform tried to contact the mentioned persons to get their comments.
Environmental activist Levon Galstyan confirmed in a conversation with us that he worked in the “Public Diplomacy” NGO as an environmental consultant from June 2016, but at that time he was not aware that it was financed by the Kajaran Combine. However, when he learned about it a few months later, he stopped cooperating with the organization.
Public and political figure, former MP Anahit Bakhshyan told us that she was involved in the educational programs of the organization, implemented several projects in the Syunik Marz, and the fight against the Amulsar mine had nothing to do with her professional activities. As for the fight against the operation of Amulsar along with being financed by the Kajaran Combine, Ms. Bakhshyan sees no problem as it is “her civil position.”
Journalist Arman Suleymanyan said that as an independent journalist he is not concerned with the source of the funds he received. The latter also mentioned that in the above-mentioned “Amulsar: State of Indifference” film there are also shots from the tailings of Artsvanik (Artsvanik is the tailings of the Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine – ed.), therefore, the he is not constrained in any way by the fact that it is financed by ZCMC. The latter also stated that the relation between him and ZCMC is not substantiated in any way and that it is a fabrication. Moreover, nothing in the film is distorted, otherwise Lydian company would have gone to court a long time ago.
The key nuance, according to Suleymanyan, is the fundamental difference between the operations of the Amulsar and Kajaran mines. For Amulsar, the ore undergoes cyanide treatment, and for Kajaran, it is done by flotation, which, according to Suleymanyan, reduces environmental risks.
We were unable to contact Silva Adamyan, Hayk Barseghyan and Sergey Danielyan.
*After the article was published, Hayk Barseghyan contacted us and provided some clarifications. According to him, his cooperation with PARA TV was limited to making photos for the toponyms for a children’s book entitled “The World of Syunik.”
“I was paid for it, to be honest, I don’t remember how much, but it included the cost of petrol, food, the purchase of a tent and other technical expenses. I don’t even know if the book has been published or not. Apart from that, there were many financial offers (from PARA TV-ed.) which I simply rejected. There was even an offer to finance “SOS,” I rejected it,” Barseghyan told us in a conversation.
He noted that he learned about the financing of “Public Diplomacy” NGO by ZCMC in the mid of 2022. “In 2019, the President of the NGO told me that the book was financed through grants. I didn’t even delved into details as to what grants they were. As for environmental activism, I am a photographer, I shoot and work with many organizations and institutions, and environmental activism is my personal initiative, I have not been paid for it directly or indirectly by anyone,” said Hayk Barseghyan.
Thus, the people we spoke to do not deny that they actually received income from ZCMC, at the same time, in one way or another, they explain the fact of simultaneously cooperating with the largest miner and environmental activism, in particular, fighting against the activities of another miner.
By the way, in recent days the government has reactivated the topic of Amulsar mine operation.
On October 6 of this year, in a conversation with Civilnet.am, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan noted that the topic of Amulsar cannot be called irrelevant. “We are working intensively to commission it, we are meeting with investors and project shareholders, a large delegation will come next week, and presently we are addressing the financing issues and in my opinion, it will start operating from the mid of next year, at least this is the plan.” .
Later, Civilnet.am published information that the parent company of “Chaarat Kapan” company which operates the Shahumyan gold polymetallic mine of Kapan community, is negotiating to acquire the Amulsar gold mine.
Minister of Environment Hakob Simidyan also stated in a conversation with journalists in the National Assembly that he was not aware of the decision to operate Amulsar. “Lydian, if am I pronouncing the name correctly, is an organization that has the permits and decides for itself how it will operate or not operate…”
Hakob Karapetyan
