For Immediate Release
June 07, 2011

A TRUSTEE DONATES NEARLY $2mln FOR MARTUNI, ARTSAKH

NEW YORK, New York — Thanks to the extraordinary financial support of Samvel Karapetyan, president of Tashir Group of Companies and member of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Board of Trustees, the Fund is currently building a highly anticipated potable-water system in the city of Martuni, Artsakh.

When the first phase of the project is completed by the end of this year, almost two-thirds of Martuni will have around-the-clock access to water. Coverage of the entire city will be achieved with the subsequent completion of the plan’s second and third phases. The city will also receive a regional hospital, sponsored by the Eastern Region affiliate of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, Armenia Fund USA, in addition to the Armenian Medical Fund USA as well as the government of Artsakh.

The Martuni initiative is the second major water-infrastructure project in Artsakh to be realized mainly through the support of Samvel Karapetyan and the Karapetyan Brothers Company, headed by the benefactor. The first project of this type, also now underway, is the construction of Shushi City’s internal water network, financed by Russian-Armenian industrialists. The lion’s share of their contributions, totaling around $1 million, was provided by Samvel Karapetyan.

Karapetyan’s generosity toward the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund was first manifested in 2008. That year, the $35 million in raised funds announced at the conclusion of the annual Telethon spelled an unprecedented success, thanks to a $15-million contribution by Karapetyan.

Today, Karapetyan’s gift to the people of Artsakh has become all the more palpable in the form of the newly constructed Regional Hospital of Stepanakert. When the project’s decoration and furnishing phases are completed in the near future, the large-scale healthcare facility will serve the population of Stepanakert and beyond.

In recent years, Karapetyan has brought his active participation to the Fund’s annual benefit gala in Moscow, held at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Armenia. Karapetyan has attended the high-profile Moscow galas not only as a benefactor, but as a visionary and an industrialist who admires the Fund’s pan-Armenian mission, accordingly sparing no effort to provide it with both financial and organizational assistance.

In 2009, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Board of Trustees unanimously elected Karapetyan, a member of the Board and its Russian Federation representative, in recognition of his outstanding philanthropic service. Karapetyan has also been named an Honorary Member of the Fund, a title conferred on benefactors who have donated $1 million or more.

“Undoubtedly, Samvel Karapetyan has had an instrumental role in the recent history of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund,” said Executive Director Ara Vardanyan. “It is no secret that, in terms of major contributions to the Fund, the Russian-Armenian community has led the pack in the past two years. The community’s emergence as such is closely connected with the name of philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan, whose exceptional altruism has served as an example to numerous Russian-Armenian business leaders.”

The Karapetyan Brothers Company comprises over 200 businesses and a workforce of close to 30,000, many of whom are Armenians. Whereas running such a massive corporation would be expected to absorb most of one’s energies, Samvel Karapetyan manages to fulfill equally the roles of chief executive, devoted father and husband, and an exemplary patriot who is as ever attuned to the pulse of the homeland.

Karapetyan’s generosity has already touched the lives of thousands. Today, their numbers are swelled by the people of Martuni, who bestow blessings on their beloved benefactor as they celebrate the long-awaited gift of water.

ARMENIA FUND USA: founded in 1992, was one of the first of “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund’s 21 international affiliates and serves constituents in all states east of the Mississippi. As a non-profit, non-governmental, nonsectarian organization, the Fund represents all Armenian constituents, supporting strategic infrastructure projects in Armenia and Karabakh. The Fund has adopted a policy to go “Beyond Bricks and Mortar” to provide sustainability for projects it sponsors.