YEREVAN. - Leader of Armenia’s Unity party, Vartan Oskanian, wrote on his Facebook page that late American-Armenian millionaire Kirk Kerkorian left a large amount for Armenia in his will.

“Today I read Kirk Kerkorian’s will. I understood the following: An amount of nearly $ 2 mln AMD has been inherited, which should be exclusively provided to one or more benevolent organizations that have the so-called 501(C)3 privilege of the U.S. tax service. The will should be handled by three persons mentioned in the will, only one of which is Armenian. They should divide that amount within three years after Kerkorian’s death (one year has already passed).

Although there is no limitation on the decision of these three persons, except for the fact that the decisions should be made on the basis of the majority principle, I think these persons bear a moral responsibility stemming from the priorities of the charity donations made by Kerkorian especially in the recent twenty years.

Kirk Kerkorian made charitable contributions in three key directions: American institutions, especially educational ones, Armenian educational, cultural, publishing and other organizations, the third direction being Armenia, where the greatest part of his donations were made.

I am sure that this circumstance puts certain obligations on the persons handling the will in making their choice.

It would be correct to set up as soon as possible a committee composed of five-seven persons enjoying the exclusive confidence of the Armenian people, which would hold consultations with wider circles, including the Armenian Government, and present a package of proposals to the aforementioned persons.  The task of the committee should be to justify the direction of the considerable part of the amounts mentioned in the will for purposes of Armenia, as well as identify the organizations and programs, for which allocations should be made.

This issue shouldn’t be abandoned to its fate. It is also unacceptable for individuals and organizations to separately repel the three persons handling the will through their contradictory proposals stemming from narrow interests,” Oskanian wrote.