Traffic Police, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia

I just noticed that Garo (AKA Christian Garbis) over at Notes from Hairenik has posted a story about just one of many encounters with Armenia’s notorious traffic police. Garo describes them to perfection.

Traffic cops wear an army green police cap with a red band that always looks too big for their heads, a short-sleeve blue shirt during the summer months, and military gray or black pants. They sport a black and white striped baton that they swirl around like Charlie Chaplin’s tramp did with his cane, then suddenly point it at a motorist to pull over.

They are the most visible form of corruption in Armenia although quite paradoxically, they protest their innocence at every given opportunity.

The corruption throughout the police system has become laughable—it is literally joked about on television comedy shows. A couple of weeks ago a police spokesmen for the Yerevan police department at a press conference denied that any form of extortion of bribes existed, whether by traffic police or vehicle registration/inspection (see my blog entry “Tekh Osmotr”). That wasn’t supposed to be a joke but….

It’s amazing that when the Council of Europe and other international organizations push for legislative reforms in Armenia, they seem to forget one very important fact. There is no rule of law in Armenia and the legislators as well as law enforcement officers are generally rotten to the core. And when the law is used, its selectively applied and often incorrectly as in the case of George and Carolann Najarian. It’s the system.

The money collection doesn’t just stop with an ordinary traffic cop, either. A percentage of that collected money goes to his chief, who then hands out some change to his superior, and up the chain it continues. I suppose the entire traffic police department could be fired, replaced by a supposedly more professional force that will not tolerate bribery, as Georgian President Saakashvili did about a year ago.

This year, tens of thousands of Armenian visited Batumi and other resorts in Georgia. All came back saying that the Georgian police, once the most notorious in the South Caucasus, no longer solicit bribes from passing motorists. Instead, this form of legitimized banditry can only be found on the Armenian side of the border. Why can’t the Armenian government follow the Georgian example and replace the entire police force?

But who would issue that order? I wouldn’t expect something like that coming from President Kocharian or anyone else reporting to him, including the mayor of Yerevan (who the president appoints). So the system for now at least stays in place, so long as “vochinch” continues….

The precedent has now been set in Georgia for cleaning up the system and that it hasn’t happened in Armenia is perhaps evidence that there is no real political will to tackle corruption in Armenia. It also illustrates the the necessity of creating a state governed by the rule of law. Until then, there’s not one aspect of life in Armenia that is untouched by one of the greatest problems facing Armenia today — corruption.

As for the photo accompanying this post, it was taken last year when I was travelling with an international/europan NGO in one of their vehicles without the tell-tale (diplomatic) colored number plates. As a result, we got pulled over even though we were doing nothing wrong. The INGO guys I was with told me to take photographs of the policemen who stopped us. First of all, they reacted angrily but then pretended to laugh when they discovered who we were.

As we went back to the car to continue on our way, they asked me if I lived in Armenia. When I said I did, one muttered in Armenian, “Then we’ll eat your life.” Anyway, Garo’s full post can be read online here.