"LET THEM EAT WITHIN REASONABLE LIMITS"
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04:57 pm | July 22, 2009
Politics
"Electoral system is the most corrupted in Armenia," says Armenia’s
Human Rights Defender Armen Harutiunian.
During today’s anti-corruption conference entitled "Corruption and
Human Rights" Mr. Armen Harutiunian underlined that corruption is a
latent phenomenon which still needs to be uncovered.
The Armenian Ombudsman noted that corruption is common in developed
countries as well.
"Corruption is not curbed in Armenia as some top-level officials are
not interested in the struggle. They arrest a few doctors, judges and
professors but this is not a way to combat against the phenomenon. The
struggle should be systemized and targeted at the monopoly. The most
dangerous is that an ordinary citizen says he is helpless and a state
official takes no efforts."
Anyway, Mr. Harutiunian is glad that Armenia ranks the second after
Georgia among post-Soviet countries.
Helsinki Association Chairman Avetik Ishkhanian thinks the state
system is the most corrupted in Armenia.
"It is too easy to control a corrupted official therefore the
authorities do not struggle against corruption," says Mr. Ishkhanian.
"The struggle is senseless unless our citizens’ attitude towards
corruption is changed. Our mentality is corrupted. Frequently you
can hear people saying "Let the authorities eat within reasonable
limits." In Armenia, people long for power to obtain corruption levers
and not to implement ideas."