Corruption in Armenian: how Cash from Yerevan became the “voice of Europe”

The Armenian media found out the details of the strange trial that has been taking place since January at the Munich Supreme District Court. We found out and were very happy, because for a long time there had been no good news for the Armenians.

In Munich, it turns out, there is a trial in the cases of former PACE deputies from Germany, who allegedly lived on "bribes" from Azerbaijan. As usual, everything is in a fog. Who, what, why? Some scraps and conjectures. The most surprising thing is that although the trial has been extended until the end of the year and the verdict is still very far away, the indictment of the Munich General Prosecutor's Office in this case has been handed over to the Armenian edition. Very interesting, isn't it? It seems that it is time for the Munich court to open a case against the prosecutor's office on the facts of corruption and the sale of judicial materials to Armenians. After all, if the Armenian media, eager for sensationalism, has to scrape information from insiders, it means that the process is completely closed. And handing over the indictment to anyone before it is announced is a serious violation.

The Armenian media thinks that Europe is in for a real sensation. Rubbish. First of all, everyone is trying to lobby their interests, and the Armenian side should know about it. The Armenians spend billions on buying lobbies in international and European organizations, parliaments and governments of the countries of the world, and this is no secret to anyone. Thanks to these billions, the crimes of Armenia and Armenians are being blurred, blurred, painted over, and put off the agenda. And this crime is doubly so, because the Armenians pay for the lies, and the Azerbaijani side has to look for ways to promote the truth. But the Armenian lie is sweeter than the Azerbaijani truth and, by the way, is much more worthwhile because it is a lie. And anyway, the Armenian media are licking their lips in vain. The Azerbaijani side has long since given up trying to get the truth anywhere. Azerbaijan promotes its truth in other ways that are inaccessible to the Armenians for any money. The Diaspora still continues to senselessly finance a lot of insatiable mouths in the same PACE, in the European Parliament, but to no avail. Millions are going nowhere, they are already leaving by inertia, although it is absolutely clear that the era of lobbying is coming to an end. 

And anyway, we don't even think about claiming the palm in lobbying matters. It is a well-known fact that we cannot keep up with the Armenians in this matter. Here we recognize the advantage of neighbors. Because the Armenians are buying up the votes of entire parliaments. However, everything is meaningless. Well, there is no Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, so what? What did it give Armenia? Yes, the diaspora has thrown millions into bribing hundreds of greedy Europeans to get the vote it needs. So what? Has it affected Armenia in any way, or has it hurt Azerbaijan in any way? Spending on the purchase of the European Parliament is generally wasted. This is the structure of the European Union, which is not taken seriously even by the EU members themselves, and even more so its resolutions are completely meaningless to outside countries.

An interesting fact was announced in 2012, causing a scandal in PACE. Then Goran Lindbland, the former Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly, rose from his seat and made a statement that instantly disgraced Armenia in front of the whole world. "The Armenian delegation tried to bribe me," he said. Lindbland accused the head of the Armenian delegation, David Harutyunyan, of trying to bribe him to lobby for Yerevan's interests. Moreover, Lindbland made his statement not on the sidelines, but at a PACE meeting, and even in the presence of the head of the Armenian delegation himself.

The incident vividly demonstrated how "friends of Armenia" can actually be "concerned" about its problems. Worry is simply bought.

This is how a number of foreign organizations, politicians, diplomats, political scientists, and journalists suddenly shut up the voice of reason and conscience and develop fierce hatred for Azerbaijan. This is how bills recognizing the mythical "Armenian genocide", "ethnic cleansing" in Karabakh, and the like are being passed in parliaments around the world.

In 2023, the Center for Research on Corruption and Organized Crime (OOCCRP) published the results of an investigation showing that an Armenian-funded lobbying group had been engaged in bribing European politicians since at least 2016. The investigation makes reference to the secret electronic correspondence of lobbyist Sargis Mirzakhanyan, who is a media adviser/expert.

Judging by the letters sent, OOCCRP emphasizes that Mirzakhanyan formed a group of analysts, journalists and political strategists who promoted certain narratives abroad. The Armenian lobbyist's team paid far-right activists to publish certain articles in the European media. 68,000 euros were allocated for one of the projects, in particular. According to the investigation, Armenian lobbyists offered money to friendly European politicians in exchange for help in promoting the necessary initiatives. OCCRP and partner publications IRPI, Important Stories and Profil have revealed leaks of Mirzakhanyan's emails. The emails were published by hackers in 2016-2017.

The emails describe in detail the ideas of individual projects for Cyprus, Latvia, Greece and even PACE. Representatives of the right-wing parties of Italy and Austria, Paolo Tosatoiz and Johannes Huebner, according to correspondence, were supposed to receive 20 thousand euros, and another 15 thousand euros were reserved for each of them. In one of the leaked letters, Mirzakhanyan reports that he received information from an unnamed European politician "on the price tag." Tozatoiz and Hubner eventually presented the projects needed by Mizakhanyan in their parliaments. In addition, in 2016, Mirzakhanyan's organization worked with Italian MP Stefano Valdegamberi from the Veneto regional parliament. "It turned out to be a bomb! From the point of view of media coverage, this is likely to be our loudest information poll!" Mirzakhanyan praised himself in one of the letters.

The letters contain a list of names of European politicians and the amount of their fees.

It is also worth recalling the relatively recent scandal involving the vice-president of the European Parliament, Eva Kiley, and dozens of other MEPs, who were stripped of their innocence. This scandal has not subsided to this day. And what is important is that Kylie and many of the participants in the scandal were active Armenian lobbyists. Not for nothing. Sure.

In November 2021, 33 MEPs, including Eva Kiley, signed a petition accusing Azerbaijan of "aggression." The whole company was a member of the friendship group with Armenia, closely linked to the Pan-European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy, the largest Armenian organization in Europe, funded by Armenian billionaire Kaspar Karapetyan. With this money, the so-called friendship group with Armenia financed the lobbyists, actually giving them a "salary."

Kaspar Karapetyan is one of the financiers of the anti-Azerbaijani network in Europe and the head of the Armenian mafia in Belgium. This guy is involved in smuggling multicolored diamonds and diamonds from the conflicting regions of Africa to Europe. Besides him, the friendship group with Armenia is also funded by Vartan Sirmakes, CEO of the Swiss watch company Franck Muller Group.

The Armenians have a lot of fluff in their mouths, and a long trail of scandals and crimes is dragging after them. Therefore, it would be better for the Armenian media to be alarmed by every news about the "corruption scandal" that they are trying to link to Azerbaijan. Because the Azerbaijani side will always have something to answer.