Eva Kaili's "Armenian adventures" before echoes of corruption from Gulf region
The "Ka-Ka" monkey business

ANALYTICS  16 December 2022 - 16:30

The uninterrupted jingles of the Armenian propaganda have recently been heard in Belgium, where the European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili, a pro-Armenian diplomat, has been busted by the Belgian police on corruption charges.

The motives for Kaili’s recent arrest did not include the traces of Armenian propaganda money but the overall assessment of her activities at the European Parliament (EP) exposes her connection with the orchestrators of paid Armenian lobbyism. We will return to it a bit later.

So, Belgian police handcuffed Kaili, a Greek Socialist Member of the European Parliament (MEP), and three others on the charges of taking bribes from a Gulf state. Although the name of the Arabic country was not disclosed officially, speculations claim it to be Qatar, the incumbent host of the FIFA 2022 World Cup.

Kaili was said to meet with the Labour Minister of Qatar, Ali bin Samih Al Marri, in November of this year, where she was convinced to receive money to help facilitate the organization of the world’s ultimate football tournament in the Gulf country. Belgian police on December 14 released photos of the cash that has been discovered during the probe in Kaili’s house. The photos show piles of notes in €200, €50, €20 and €10 denominations next to a suitcase that was said to contain €1.5 million ($1.7 million).

Cash that was found during a probe by the Belgian police in Eva Kaili's house

The Greek politician has been immediately suspended from her party and sanctioned, being withdrawn from duties, such as representing the head of the parliament in the Middle East, furthermore, her assets were frozen by the Greek authorities. Prosecutors said the investigation by Belgian judge Michel Claise on Kaili’s case is looking into "corruption" and "money laundering" within an organised gang.

Armenian propaganda smell

The monkey business of Kaili with a Gulf country pushes the thoughts toward deeper research into her activities at the EP even before being linked to the most recent corruption scandal. For instance, she is well known for her fiery lobbyism for Armenia largely by discrediting Azerbaijan. Kaili is one of the 33 members of the Armenian Friendship Group at the EP. The Group is actively engaged in advocating for pro-Armenian and anti-Azerbaijan resolutions at the legislative body of the European Union. The main driving force behind the Group’s functioning is the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD), one of the patrons of Armenian lobbyism in Europe headed by a “grey cardinal” of the Armenian mafia-lobby, billionaire Kaspar Karampetian - one of the biggest “wallets” of the separatist in Karabakh. About Karampetian and his filthy political-business life, we will talk later.

The ultimate goal of EAFJD is to attract more “friends” of Armenia and the separatist regime in Karabakh, which Armenians call “Artsakh”, for “defending the Armenian state interest,” i.e. Armenian propaganda and lobbyism.

And the European Armenian Federation, including Kaili, has been at the forefront of the anti-Azerbaijan Armenian propaganda fueled by Karampetian and his EAFJD. When the 44-day war erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the latter’s Karabakh region in the autumn of two years ago, the Greek parliamentarian turned her social media accounts into a “frontline” against Azerbaijan. On the second day of the war on September 28, 2020, Kaili called on Twitter for an “immediate EU investigation” in Karabakh where she thought the “Armenian people have suffered enough”. On October 21 of the same year, she again urged the EU to “wake up to act for the Armenian people”. She even sent a written request to the European Union Commission asking to impose visa restrictions on Azerbaijani passport holders amid the war in Karabakh.

EU needs to call immediately for an independent investigation in #Nagorno #Karabakh @EUCouncil @JosepBorrellF @Osce should #ActNow on all diplomatic levels to prevent further escalation! #Armenian people have suffered enough!
We cannot remain silent @Europarl_EN @TheProgressives https://t.co/JDBzktBML2

— Eva Kaili (@EvaKaili) September 27, 2020

The “contributions” of Kaili and the European Armenian Federation got high marks from Karampetian on November 10, 2021, when the EAFJD sponsored the relaunch of the Group in Brussels. Members from all the main political groups of the European Parliament were involved in the group again and MEP Loucas Fourlas from the Greek Cyprus was tasked to lead it. By the way, Fourlas is as much pro-Armenian as his colleague Kaili.

Karampetian praised in the meeting the activities of the Armenian Friendship Group and set new tasks for “taking initiatives to help people in Armenia and in Artsakh”. In other words, Karampetian lured the Group to fuel his separatist aspirations in the self-designed, unrecognized “Artsakh”. And, interestingly, the date of the event matched the first anniversary of the end of the 44-day war. Seemingly, Karampetian decided to reinforce his support to help Armenia and separatists resist the fulfilment of the obligations Armenia took under the tripartite ceasefire statement that ended the war. The document called for the full withdrawal of the armed separatists from Karabakh, however, the Azerbaijani region was still settled by these illegals when Karampetian gathered MEPs under his umbrella in Brussels.

Slightly more than a week after the reorganization of the Armenian Friendship Group by EAFJD, on November 19, 2021, the Group fulfilled the first task set by Karampetian. All of its members unanimously signed a statement accusing Azerbaijan of "committing aggression against Armenia". The authors of the statement called on international organisations, including EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Joseph Borrell, to use all levers "to prevent Azerbaijan's aggression against Armenia".

The motive for the Kaili-backed resolution was a flare-up on the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border. Back then, on November 16, Armenian forces attempted to recapture “more strategic” positions in the Kalbajar district by provoking a large-scale provocation on the state border. Kalbajar is one of the regions liberated by the Azerbaijani army during the 2020 war. The all-out armed offensive was foiled by the Azerbaijan Armed Forces, dozens of Armenian infiltrators were captured, and the Armenian troops were pushed back.

In the meantime, Kaili continued her démarche against Azerbaijan as one of the participants from the Armenian Friendship Group in a meeting with Arthur Khachatryan, a member of the Armenian parliament’s “Hayastan” bloc led by former President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, a key supporter of separatism in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. During the meeting organized by EAFJD in May 2022, the participants discussed the anti-Azerbaijan agenda and the ways of backing the separatist formations in Karabakh.

Who is the mysterious Armenian rich man Karampetian?

Although Kaspar Karampetian openly sponsors propaganda and lobbyism for the so-called “political aspirations” of Armenia in Europe through his European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) organization, there is almost no information about this “dark knight” of the Armenian propaganda due to his shady business and connections.

Kaspar Karampetian

What is clear is that he is a Greek citizen with an Armenian passport. The centre of its activity is the capital of Belgium, Brussels. He spent his childhood in Beirut, which is considered the stronghold of Armenian terrorism. When terrorism became unpopular, his ties with the Armenian terrorist organization ASALA were severed. He often visits the Middle East and Pakistan to allegedly care about the protection of Christianity. In Romania and Serbia, he has sponsored the installation of Armenian crosses – khachkars, the fictional “witnesses of ancient Armenia”.

In Belgium, he owns jewellery stores. It is convinced that diamonds are illegally delivered to him from military zones in Africa and are processed in Europe. And after that, having provided official certificates, diamonds are delivered to luxury jewellery stores in Europe. He gives most of his diamond business income to the separatists in Karabakh. It is assumed that he invested namely this money to found the EAFJD in 2000 through close cooperation with the foreign intelligence of Armenia.

He applies also different tactics to collect money for the separatists. Once, Karampetyan himself admitted that just at one evening gala dinner in Brussels in 2017 he managed to raise €3,8 million to support separatism.

Furthermore, on March 15, 2017, Karampetian invited a significant number of European parliamentarians to one of the restaurants in Strasbourg. Later, several of these European parliamentarians went to illegally visit the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. The so-called Group of Armenian Friends, who settled under the roof of the European Parliament, is believed to be the result of the insidious activities of Karampetian.

In 2018, the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan put him on the wanted list through Interpol. Karampetian was accused of deliberately and illegally crossing the state border of Azerbaijan through the territory of Armenia, making visits to Khankendi and other settlements as part of an organized group in 2014-2018. He has also organised illegal visits of MEPs to Karabakh, and repeatedly voiced open calls against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in order to promote the so-called “Republic of Artsakh" on the international level.

In the end, we are convinced that it is up to a reader to draw conclusions based on crystal-clear collaboration between Karampetian’s EAFJD and European parliamentarians, including corruption-suspect Eva Kaili. Anyway, let us remind you that it would be naïve to seek disinterested, impartial, and unbiased reciprocity in this relationship. At least due to the fact that one of the sides clearly leads and supports illegal activities and the other is already under arrest for corrupt activities.

Caliber.Az