The “Caucasus research resource centre-Armenia” organisation, through sponsorship from the USAID, conducted a research amongst Armenians and found out that according to our citizens, the most corrupt institutions in Armenia are the court, the media and the church.
I do not have any basis not to believe the results of the survey. It is quite the opposite, I am sure that the survey accurately represents the public attitudes in Armenia at the moment. The question is, do those attitudes accurately represent reality? I do not agree with the optimistic idea that the nation is always right. The nation (not ours exceptionally, of course, this applies to any other nation as well) is often misled, frequently becomes a victim of manipulation or specifically targeted propaganda.
Let’s start with the court. Why is it the court specifically, not the police, investigative, tax and customs authorities or, say, the cadastre. Of course, obedient and corrupt judges have always been around, but it is apparent as to why the courts particularly are perceived as corrupt institutions: after 2018, the targets of governmental propaganda have become the judges, some of who did not and still do not want to “stand up and honor” when getting instructions from both previous and current authorities. As the constitution gives the judges some liberty, contrary to policemen and others, that might be the reason they have a desire to act independently both then and now. Although I think that the Supreme Judicial Council is going to fix that “disadvantage” via its “vettings”.
The Armenian Apostolic Church would not be perceived as an “abundance of corruption”, if the “New Armenia-New Patriarch” operation was successful, and the elected Catholicos was a suitable candidate for the authorities, and would welcome giving up on Artsakh and depopulation of Armenians, for instance. But in this case, naturally, the propaganda that the clergymen are the greatest corrupts is broadcasted. Although I find it hard to imagine what authority or ability does a clergyman have to solve an issue using corruption, like helping their friend win a major state tender.
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Lastly, the media. As some of them express the views of the opposition, the best way to fight against it is declaring that they are working for “the money your owners have been stealing from us for the past thirty years”. That is the reason as to why every non-pro-government post contains comments like “u jornalists r bribed and iliterat!!!” written by “bots”, “trolls”, “fakes”, as well as real people.
While the first two institutions can theoretically become fully tamed, in modern reality the third one cannot. At least, I hope so.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
