Misak Ohanian wrote to me today in response to my earlier post about the “coup” that had taken place at CAIA, the Centre for Armenian Information and Advice in London.

Ohanian had run CAIA for 17 years but had been evicted by four members of the seven member board. I have posted Misak’s email to me with his permission:

Dear Colleague

Firstly of all let me congratulate your excellent website.

It is a worthy and noble project.

However I would like to draw your attention as to what is happening with the
CAIA in the light of your comments about the recent Employment Tribunal. For
your information I have issued a press release which I believe says it all.
(See attached)

However in summary for your benefit as well as the benefit of anyone else
visiting you website, the CAIA is a charitable company with elected
Trustee/directors from members, with annual AGM’s, business plan, audited
accounts, etc.
It has been a very effective organisation in the past 15 years because it is
the only Armenian grassroots organisation born in the UK with the specific
mission to empower Armenians, in particularly the most disadvantaged and
vulnerable such as newly arrived refugees, isolated older and younger
people, the homeless, the unemployed, women and children.

The facts are that as a directly result of the coup of 31st January 2003,
the CAIA has not held an AGM for over two years because the last one was in
May 2002. This is contrary to both company law as well as CAIA’s Article of
Memorandum registered with the Charity Commission. Unfortunately the Charity
Commission has failed to respect this and instead has sided with those who
instigated the take over.

Therefore the Employment Tribunal was not just about my own personal
struggle for reinstatement as General Secrecy of the CAIA but part of the
wider struggle of CAIA members to regain control over the destiny of the
their organisation.

The fact is that as a result of the manner of intervention by the
Commission, the constitutional rights of CAIA members have been violated.
Members have not seen or verified the accounts for two years, they have not
been consulted or involved in the dismissal of two most senior members of
staff or the chairman, Mr Koundarjian. Neither do the majority agree that
charity funds should be squandered by an unelected and unrepresentative
minority.

Since January 2003, 4 petitions have been collected by members to enable
their views to be heard at an EGM. They have also held protest vigils
outside the CAIA. (See photographs) Each time, those who instigated the coup
with the help of the Charity Commission have opposed these democratic and
lawful expressions of people power. In the process they have refused members
to hire their own centre, calling even the police to “keep” an eye! Why?
The fact is that both the Charity Commission and those who have taken over
the CAIA have something in common. Both exercise power without
accountability. This is why the Government has now introduced a new bill to
parliament to reform the Charity Commission. I suggest you visit the website
of the Association of Charities at www. association4charities.org.uk

This is a campaign organisation supporting the reform of the Charity
Commission. At their website you will find out the treatment of the CAIA by
the Commission is no unique. There are many examples of how other many
valuable charities have been destroyed by the Charity Commission exploiting
differences within charities. They appear to be only motivated in
safeguarding their own departmental budgets by wasting tax payers money
instead of helping charities deliver services. Furthermore they appear to
have no idea about how membership based community organisations operate.

It is also no wonder that the government is further proposing to reduce the
number of civil Servants it employs as no less than 13 have been involved in
CAIA’s affairs since January 2003!

In the meantime, CAIA members (many of whom were service service) are the
main victims of this situation, something which those who have taken control
try to minimize by trying to shift blame on others, including me.

Given the Armenian people’s history of mismanaging their own affairs, (not
surprising given their lack of experience over the centuries) I hope that a
more intelligent debate can take place on your website about what is
appending to the CAIA. The focus should not be so much on personalities and
hearsay but what is essentially the manifestation of organisational and
complex community tensions.

Misak Ohanian

Misak tells me that there is a website setup by CAIA members to keep those interested informed.
www.freehayashen.com