In the last several weeks since the opposition parliamentary “Heritage” faction suggested a legal initiative, Armenia has been discussing disclosure of the network of agents cooperating with the KGB. “Heritage” suggests disclosure of people who directly or secretly cooperated with the USSR KGB, intelligence services and counter-espionage bodies in other countries before the 21st of 1991. “We believe that adoption of the law on lustration prevents the appointment to top positions of people with such biographies. We hope it will enable our country to avoid blackmail and foreign pressure in making decisions, and strengthen the sovereignty of Armenia,” the head of the faction Stepan Safaryan said. He added that lustration doesn’t concern secret agents of the Armenian special services.
The Conservative Party, the recently-established Party of Free Democrats and the leader of the Union of National Self-identification, Paruyr Ayrikyan, support the initiative.
The ruling Republican Party of Armenia pointed out several defects in the law. The deputy Ovannes Saakyan said: “I am a citizen and deputy and support lustration, but its technical implementation is incompletely working. The process of disclosure includes several important aspects. However, the current bill endangers the activity of the national security services.”
Some representatives of the Armenian National Congress stand against lustration as well. According to the deputy minister of the national security Gurgen Yegiazaryan, lustration will endanger the national security of the country and destroy the whole intelligence system: “Intelligence and counter-espionage are guarantees of the national security of Armenia. The bill initiated by “Heritage” is aimed at weakening the country. We will have no opportunity to plant agents abroad and get information, so we cannot resist future challenges.”
Armenian human rights activists think that ratification of such a law will encourage society to get rid of 1937 syndrome. However, the human right activist Mikael Danielyan said that the bill is incomplete and could cause several problems, including a witch-hunt. “The bill should clearly distinguish professional agents of the KGB and so-called narks-informants. The latter should be disclosed. These people rat against their colleagues, neighbors and university-mates. Moreover, they could have data against people who play a significant role in the political life of the country,” Danielyan says.
However, discussion of the problem doesn’t mean real prospect of the law being ratified. The authorities always reject such proposals. Lustration took place in the early 1990s in the Baltic states and some countries of Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, special peculiarities of each country should be considered. Armenia is still involved in a conflict with Azerbaijan and has tense relations with Turkey. In this context the bill won’t lead to any positive results.
Even though lustration is discussed by politicians, experts, social organizations and some representatives of the intelligentsia, this issue is not very interesting for Armenian society. Lustration will increase the level of confrontation in society, which has a lot of social and economic problems. Moreover, there is no court which can confirm that KGB and other Soviet special services were criminal organizations.
Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to VK
