THERE IS POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN ARMENIA
Lragir, Armenia
Nov 6 2006
Amalia Kostanyan, director of the regional development center of
Transparency International stated November 6 in Yerevan that by the
level of corruption Armenia is the 93rd among 169 countries, and in
2006 the high level of corruption in Armenia did not change, and the
situation has not improved over the past three years, reports ARKA
News Agency. In the meantime, an anti-corruption strategy has been
implemented in Armenia for three years now, and the UN resolution on
battling corruption has been ratified.
Amalia Kostanyan said her statement is based on the results of the
survey conducted by their organizaiton. Transparency International
classifies the countries by a ten-grade scale, and the countries
which are close to Grade 10 have the lowest level of corruption.
Armenia is lower than Grade 3 together with Argentina, Syria, Bosnia
and Hertzegovina. Unlike Armenia, Transparency International has
reported progress in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Georgia moved
from Grade 2 to 2.8, Azerbaijan from 1.9 to 2.4, Turkey from 3.2 to
3.8. Another painful reality for Armenia, which became known as a
result of Transparency International, is that political corruption
is constantly growing in Armenia. According to Amalia Kostanyan, the
director of the regional development center of this international
organization, in 2005 corruption directed at "seizing power" was
reported in Armenia. This sinister situation is reflected in the
results of the survey of Freedom House. "The results of the survey
of this organization show that the political and democratic rights
and freedoms of the citizens are not protected in this country."
According to the survey of Freedom House, the principles of tolerance
and democratic rights and freedoms are not observed in Armenia unlike
Butan, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Vietnam.
Amalia Kostanyan says such a situation proceeding elections must
be worrying. "Today everyone in the world who develop corruption,
assist the political elite in accumulating and laundering of the
wealth obtained illegally," stated Amalia Kostanyan.