Unpopular
observations on National SecurityIt isn’t right to speak behind the dismissed
official. Carlos Petrosian had to be criticized during holding his post, which
we often had done. For that reason let’s content ourselves with general argumentations.
Carlos Petrosian’s main imperfection was his police way of thinking. The psychology
of a policeman is rather different from the psychology of a "chekist".
The reason is that the NSS and Police / however they called/ have performed absolutely
different duties during decades and their personnel have been trained and improved
according to those different purposes. The border began to slack off after the
revolution in 1988-90, a "personnel diffusion" took place among the
police, army, prosecutor office and the main national security and in Carlos Petrosian’s
time and with his help the police and security institutions didn’t differ from
each other. The Ministry of National Security /then Service/ isn’t engaged in
security, it is engaged in interests of clan serving, in privileged economic activities,
patronizing and racket. As the Police do. But the Police have a wealth tradition
of such kind illegal activities since 60s. It isn’t true that it began since Vano
Siradeghian’s times, it is said for political purposes to criticize the former
authorities once more. The Police was corrupted since Brejnev’s times and / I
know I express an unpopular standpoint/ the corruption decreased rather than increased
in time of independence. Simply in case of market relations the chief of "the
sixth department" is able to own a "Jeep" costs 100 thousand dollars
/certainly by the name of his wife’s brother/ but the chief of "BeKhES"
hid his property. They took corresponding money by dollars or rubles instead.
The National Security has its own tradition. It will be a sacrilege to say that
those traditions are "kind". The Soviet Committee of State Security
was an institution of bloody and man-eater system. But it hasn’t been corrupted
as Police since 90s. But then the security began to change for the worse acquiring
improper functions. There are quite different things when secret listening and
gathering "compromats" which are nasty, serve the nation security /putting
aside how it is understood depending on the politic regime/ and when the same
nasty things are used for growing rich, taking bribes, oppressing the economic
rivals or simply settling their own accounts. For example how to understand when
security organs are engaged in "economic crime". What is this if no
another corrupting way? The economic crime in market case is an infringement of
Customs or Taxation laws. But there are Customs or Taxation institutions for it.
The word "KGB" /CSS/ causes negative emotions to every intellectual,
every honest people. And it’s natural. But we must realize that every state can’t
survive without any special service. By the way the word "KGB’s agent"
also causes indignation to the same honest people. And it’s also normal. Here
too, I must do an unpopular observation. These are also necessary. To find out
them means to deprive the national security of working. Maybe it is worth to declare
the names of agents who worked on KGB since 1985 and by whose denunciations thousands
of people were executed, imprisoned or sent to mental hospitals by force. And
let the grandchildren of the victims forgive the grandchildren of betrayers. But
it can’t concern the present-day agent system. What do you think is it worth the
presence of security in atomic power station? I’m sure it is necessary. And
the last observation "unpleased to the nation". For spite the chief’s
frequent changes the security professionals who worked still in Marries Yuzbashian’s
times and don’t have to do anything with political persecutions. There are honest,
patriot and intelligent people among them. Speaking to them I got an impression
that those professionals pin their hopes on Gorik Hakobian. Those people hope
that NSS will begin to be engaged in national security. We’ll live and see.Aram
Abrahamian