I saw something today that made me laugh. I was on the #93 marshrutka (mini bus) in France square (corner of Mashtots and Sayat Nova/Baghramyan… see Christmas photos below) and all of a sudden, I heard loud whistling. I looked out the window and saw police officers in the middle of the square. They were trying to redirect traffic, but they seriously looked like they were having seizures. The best part was that none of the drivers were paying attention to them. And I don’t blame them! Their arms were flailing. I couldn’t tell if they wanted drivers to keep going straight or if they were trying to get everyone to turn. Talk about mass confusion.
Finally, a cop car pulled over and blocked traffic altogether. Of course, there was something unintelligible being said over the car’s loudspeaker, as usual. It was an interesting scene. I think higher ranking police drive around in SUVs because when a police SUV drove by, the cop in the middle of the street stopped the flailing and saluted the car. This continued for a couple of minutes, and then I think I saw the Armenian President’s motorcade. There were a number of police cars and motorcycles, followed by a black sedan with tinted windows and the Armenian flag on both sides of the hood of the car, followed by big black cars with tinted windows and what looked like radios on top of them, followed by more cop cars. The man sitting behind me in the marshrutka said to his friend something about those cars being FBI cars. As soon as the motorcade passed, the street cops got into their cars and rolled off.
As I watched the police in action, I couldn’t stop thinking about the Armenian gangs I had heard about, so I began doing some deeper research. I stumbled upon a couple of articles online that I found interesting. The “gang” problem of Armenia is indeed an organized crime issue. Apparently, it’s called the “Aghperutyun” (brotherhood).
Yerevan is divided into districts. The heads of the districts are elected, and the President appoints the Mayor of the City. It seems the leaders of the districts are all part of the “brotherhood.” Though there are different clans and there are clashes, as a general rule, you can’t do much without approval from the “brotherhood.” They are essentially a shadow government. They drive around in their expensive SUVs with their tinted windows.
Apparently, everyone knows about this “brotherhood” business, but no one speaks about it. I wish I knew more about the players in local politics. The article I read had a lot of detail about how the brotherhood has “influenced” the election of the prefects of the capital’s various districts. It seems this group doesn’t hesitate to openly commit murder. Since they control the government, they also control the prosecutors. So they get away with a lot.
Having read even just a little bit, I wonder… are there really free elections in Armenia? Does the vote count? I suspect the answer to both questions is negative. The next question then is how do we change this? Assuming you want to change things and befriend the “brotherhood” to get elected and then turn on them once you are in office, they will kill you! So what’s the answer? Part of me also wonders if it’s really any different than things back home… instead of the “brotherhood,” we have special interest groups. But at least they don’t go around murdering opponents… I think. I knew there was corruption in Armenian politics. I suppose I was too naïve or idealistic to understand to what extent. How do we rid the government of this corruption? If we do lose the corruption, would that lead to the rise of the rule of law? I know we have problems in the U.S., but this is a completely different world.
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The photo below is partially unrelated to this post. The Internet connection is quite slow in Armenia. Uploading photos has been a challenge. Below are the posters I mentioned in the previous post - the ones I think are being put up by the government. If anyone recognizes the logos (looks like the logo of a political party), please shoot me an email. You can click on the photo to enlarge it. These are the types of posters everywhere that keep saying "one people" and telling people things like don't trust Jehovah's Witnesses. This is the only photo I have of the posters. I will see if I can take a few more to give you an idea of the things they say. Unfortunately, there are words on these that I don't understand. I will put words I don't understand in caps with English letters.
The top poster says "One People. Organizational Alliance. No TYURKAMED A.M.N.-IN. Yes Armenia, Russia, Alliance."
The bottom poster says "One People. Organizational Alliance. Watch out for Jehovah's Witnesses. Say no to cults/sects."
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