"Voluntarily-compulsorily" “donations” to the YAŞAT Foundation

Baku/09.01.20/Turan: During a month, since the  day of creation of the YAŞAT Foundation to Support Families of Martyrs and Wounded Fighters, 24 million 804 thousand 936, 86 manats were transferred to the Foundation, said  Ulvi Mehdiyev, the head of the State Agency for Services to Citizens and Social Innovations. More than 15 million manats were received from individuals, and 9 million 768 thousand manats from legal entities.

The YAŞAT Foundation was established by presidential decree on December 8, 2020. The point 2.1.1. of the charter says that the transferred money are voluntary donations from individuals and legal entities. Judging by the sum collected during the month, on average, about 1.2 million manats are transferred to the Foundation every day.

For Azerbaijanis, helping the wounded and the families of martyrs is a matter of paramount importance. But the post-war and pandemic economy of the country is in poor state, the earnings of citizens have fallen, hundreds of thousands were left without work, some live only on state benefits. Were all donations to the Foundation purely voluntary?

Turan knows two citizens who reported to the editorial office about the forced dismissal from work of their own will because they refused to transfer of 50% of their salary for one month to the YAŞAT Foundation. Earlier, the staff of this organization agreed to donate one percent every month, but at the end of last year, the management was instructed to withdraw half of the monthly salary from all employees. They were promised that then this money would be returned. The two workers - the only breadwinners in the family, refused to pay half of their salary, as they have to feed the children. After a short time, the management declared them bad employees and offered to quit.

The dismissed asked Turan not to disclose their names and place of former work. They hope to receive the wage debt and are afraid of reprisals. Every family has children, and has to live somehow. They say that several other people in their former organization had expressed dissatisfaction with the forced taking of money. The same practice, according to Turan, is practiced in medical institutions. The fear of these people can be understood, the desire of the leaders of the Foundation to solve the problem of the shortage of donations by violence is incomprehensible.

There are violations in collecting donations for the Foundation, Ulvi Mehdiyev reported about this: “There are cases when a photo of a wounded person in need is being disseminated on social networks. However, after investigation it turns out that this person is in military service and does not need help. He demands from us to find and punish the persons distributing his photos."

Mehdiyev did not speak about "voluntary-compulsory" collection of donations during his meeting with journalists.

The Foundation's activities are controlled by the Board of Trustees. In an interview with Turan, member of the Board Rena Safaralieva expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that donations are collected from citizens against their will. She called this practice an illegal relic of the communist past. Safaralieva advised the repressed to apply to the branch trade unions and the court, and to demand the protection of their legal rights. -0—