"Hraparak" writes: We had written that 150 Turkish businessmen had arrived in Armenia, who were participating in a two-day economic forum with Armenian businessmen at the "Holiday Inn" hotel. We were informed that the event, organized by the Union of Industrialists and Businessmen, received a grant from the European Union on the topic of normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations and strengthening cross-border ties. As for the visit of Turkish businessmen, we found out that the Armenian side did not participate in the selection of Turkish businessmen, did not even determine the number of visitors.
Only invitations were sent to Armenian businessmen, and 140 people confirmed their participation in the forum, but about 120 businessmen were present at the event. Moreover, all expenses of the Turkish side, including food, hotel accommodation in the center of Yerevan, visits to sights, etc., were covered by the grant funds, but no overnight stay or other expenses of businessmen arriving from the regions of Armenia were provided. For example, people from Meghri or Agarak came to Yerevan at their own expense, while those coming from Turkey did not spend a single penny from their own pockets.
We were not told how much money the EU allocated, but as far as we understood, it was about a hundred thousand, maybe more, dollars.
