Tuesday, June 14, 2022
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
NEWSLETTER
ՀԱՅ
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
ՀԱՅ
No Result
View All Result

ARF Western US Calls for Transparency in Hayastan Fund Activities

by Asbarez Staff
July 27, 2018
in Armenia, Artsakh, Community, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories
7
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
ARF Western US Central Committee's Political Chair Avedik Izmirlian
ARF Western US Central Committee’s Political Chair Avedik Izmirlian

GLENDALE—The news that Hayastan All-Armenia Fund’s director had misappropriated the organization’s fund has raised concerns in the community about the fund’s work and management. To clarify and discuss next steps Asbarez sat down with Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western US Central Committee’s Political Chairman Avedik Izmirlian to discuss the party’s position on the matter, especially since the ARF is part of the fund’s governing board.

Asbarez: What was your reaction to the news about Hayastan Fund’s financial misappropriations?

Avedik Izmirlian: The resignation of decades-long former executive director of the Hayastan All-Armenia Fund, Ara Vardanyan, along with his arrest and admission to using the organization’s credit card to engage in online gambling, sent shock waves throughout Armenia and the Diaspora. The ARF Western US Central Committee severely condemns this unacceptable behavior.

The Hayastan All-Armenia Fund is an important part of the Armenian Nation and must be preserved and strengthened since its mission is far from over.

Asbarez: What should the Hayastan Fund do moving forward?

A.I.: We welcome the appointment by Armenia’s President Armen Sarkissian of Bedros Terzian as the interim director and are confident that he will stop at nothing to put the house back in order. Of course, we offer our support and assistance to this end.

However, in light of recent events, the Fund requires transparency, restructuring and reforms, an imperative to the Fund’s longevity and necessary conditions to our continued participation.

The ARF Western US Central Committee calls for an immediate and transparent investigation of the Hayastan All-Armenia Fund’s day-to-day operations. We also believe that all offices of the Hayastan All-Armenia Fund and it’s regional affiliates should create mechanisms to monitor the day-to-day activities of its main and regional branches, in addition to being audited by independent and highly-experienced companies.

The ARF also believes that if anyone is found guilty of corruption, criminal conduct, or engaging in such acts he or she must be removed from his or her position and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Only through such efforts can we collectively repair the Fund’s tarnished image and regain the trust of the public.

Asbarez Staff

Asbarez Staff

Next Post

Kocharian Arrested

Comments 7

  1. State of Emergency says:
    4 years ago

    As if nobody was aware this was going on up until now. Ara Vardanyan was the executive director for decades. Hard to believe he woke up one morning and discovered online gambling. Besides, gambling is a habitual disorder, he would have cut off his right arm just for another round. The fact is that just like the ARF’s political alignment with the Republican Party of Armenia, now the HAAF is trying to play all innocent and naive. It takes corruption to corrupt people. The culture of corruption was and is well documented. No amount of distancing will rehab their image. This issue of thievery and pillaging of public funds will continue to unravel and feed further distrust for generations to come. Well done!.

    Reply
  2. Hamasdegh says:
    4 years ago

    I am surprised that the Board of Directors has assumed no responsibility whatsoever in this scandalous situation. What were they doing over the years? No oversight? No internal audits? No review and audit of management practices? So to hear they are shocked over the revelations makes me wonder whether they knew what the role or responsibilities of a Board member are. We should demand their resignation en masse because their incompetence cries to the skies!

    Reply
    • State of Emergency says:
      4 years ago

      The Board of Directors should be prosecuted for no oversight, no internal audits, and no review and audit of management practices. Dereliction of duty should be a criminal offense in this case.

      Reply
  3. Nazareth Samuelian says:
    4 years ago

    Its about time that they & all of us take responsibility to Armenia fund .& all funds that are related to Armenian nation .

    Reply
  4. Andre Samurkashian says:
    4 years ago

    Will the corruption and malfeasance never end? When does the dissolutionment stop? How about a class action law suit to get our money back and reinvest the misappropriated funds in our once again burgeoning country! Getze Hayastan!

    Reply
  5. herayer says:
    4 years ago

    THE FUND HAS NO OTHER OPTION TO REPAIR IT’S REPUTATION, COMPLETE TRANSPARENCY IS VERY VERY IMPORTANT OTHERWISE A NEW AND FRAUD FREE FUND SHOULD BE CREATED IN ORDER TO HELP ARMENIA. ARMENIANS ARE READY TO DONATE BUT HATE CORRUPTION.

    Reply
  6. mahmouzian says:
    4 years ago

    that not a board .I call them sleeping board .and looking at the annual teleton they all dance at the same tune they sing haistan haistan haistan and the haistansti reap you off bunch of looser take a vacation will you

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Shahumian’s De-Occupation Remains a Priority for Artsakh

Shahumian’s De-Occupation Remains a Priority for Artsakh

9 hours ago

Board of Regents Condemns Attacks on Armenian Schools’ Integrity, Commitment to Homeland

9 hours ago

Connect with us

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Subscribe
  • Contact

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

Accessibility

Accessibility modes

Epilepsy Safe Mode
Dampens color and removes blinks
This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode
Improves website's visuals
This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode
Helps to focus on specific content
This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode
Reduces distractions and improve focus
This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode
Allows using the site with your screen-reader
This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.

Online Dictionary

    Readable Experience

    Content Scaling
    Default
    Text Magnifier
    Readable Font
    Dyslexia Friendly
    Highlight Titles
    Highlight Links
    Font Sizing
    Default
    Line Height
    Default
    Letter Spacing
    Default
    Left Aligned
    Center Aligned
    Right Aligned

    Visually Pleasing Experience

    Dark Contrast
    Light Contrast
    Monochrome
    High Contrast
    High Saturation
    Low Saturation
    Adjust Text Colors
    Adjust Title Colors
    Adjust Background Colors

    Easy Orientation

    Mute Sounds
    Hide Images
    Virtual Keyboard
    Reading Guide
    Stop Animations
    Reading Mask
    Highlight Hover
    Highlight Focus
    Big Dark Cursor
    Big Light Cursor
    Navigation Keys

    Asbarez.com Accessibility Statement

    Accessibility Statement

    • asbarez.com
    • June 14, 2022

    Compliance status

    We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.

    To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.

    This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.

    Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.

    If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email

    Screen-reader and keyboard navigation

    Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:

    1. Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.

      These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.

    2. Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.

      Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Disability profiles supported in our website

    • Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
    • Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
    • Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
    • ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
    • Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
    • Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments

    1. Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
    2. Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over 7 different coloring options.
    3. Animations – epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
    4. Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
    5. Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
    6. Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
    7. Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.

    Browser and assistive technology compatibility

    We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.

    Notes, comments, and feedback

    Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to