Armenia had an interior ministry until former President Robert Kocharian abolished it and turned the police into a separate structure subordinate to him two decades ago. The police have reported to the prime minister since Kocharian’s successor, Serzh Sarkisian, completed the country’s transition to a parliamentary system of government in 2018.
The Armenian Ministry of Justice recommended the re-establishment of the interior ministry headed by a full-fledged cabinet member in a three-year strategy of police reforms proposed to the government two years ago. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian signaled his approval of the idea in February 2021 but did not move to put it into practice in the following months.
The ministry revived the idea recently, prompting a parliamentary hearing on a corresponding bill drafted by it. Justice Minister Karen Andreasian said the bill will likely be sent to the National Assembly for debate in September.
“We will merge three major services -- the Police, the Rescue Service and Migration Service -- under the umbrella of the new Ministry of Internal Affairs,” one of Andreasian’s deputies, Arpine Sargsian, told the hearing organized by the parliament committee on defense and security.
Armenia -- Riot police guard a court building in Yerevan during the trial of former President Robert Kocharian and three other former officials, May 13, 2020.
The committee chairman, Andranik Kocharian, backed the proposed merger, saying that it would increase “democratic oversight” of the Armenian police.
“By creating the interior ministry we will not only make the [law-enforcement] body more accountable but also contribute to the transparency of its work,” he said.
Pashinian faced opposition calls to turn the police as well as the National Security Service (NSS) into ministries accountable to the parliament shortly after he swept to power in May 2018. He opposed such a change until 2021.
Hovannes Kocharian (no relation to Andranik), a former senior police official, cautioned during the hearing that the structural change alone would not lead to greater accountability. He argued that the police were “mired in political and economic processes” and faced “allegations of partisanship” when they were part of an interior ministry in the 1990s.
“The only way to neutralize these risks is to strike the right balance, delineate functions and put in place adequate oversight mechanisms,” he said.