People Should Be Aware in a Positive Sense When Hearing the Name of the NSS: Pashinyan

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan introduced the newly appointed director of the National Security Service (NSS), Armen Abazyan, to the leadership of the NSS. The Prime Minister noted that our state is currently going through quite difficult and heavy times, during which the NSS must fulfill its role as the backbone of the state.

“I am confident that this will happen. Of course, these are times when we need to analyze what has happened and why. I must say that my conclusion remains the same. The most complex and significant issue for us is that, unfortunately, we have not been able to reach an adequate level of institutional development in our country. Essentially, since 2018, we have removed systemic corruption and oligarchy from the public administration system, but during this time, we have not been able to create systems that exist in a different logic with equal effectiveness,” he said.

According to him, there were objective and subjective reasons for this, particularly in the case of the NSS, where the biggest challenge has been to ensure that the system does not, excuse the term, 'break,' while at the same time making sure that it meets the challenges of new times.

In this regard, this is a complex problem that we have yet to solve and need to address. When people hear the name of the National Security Service, they should feel aware, regardless of their views, workplace, character, or educational background, not in some negative context but understanding that they are dealing with an agency responsible for upholding the legality of state order and ensuring security, which primarily secures the safety of the state and citizens, and so forth.

But does that level satisfy us? I do not think we have that kind of situation now, and our task is to raise this situation to a new standard, a standard that ensures this occurs in our public consciousness,” Pashinyan said.

Nikol Pashinyan thanked former NSS director Argishti Kyaramyan for his work, noting that he took up the position during a difficult time. The Prime Minister expressed confidence that Mr. Kyaramyan's potential will be utilized in the further processes of the country's development.

The head of the government also thanked Armen Abazyan for taking on the complicated job, as he has assumed the position in an even more difficult situation. “I want to wish Mr. Abazyan and all those present success. We need to draw lessons from what has occurred, talk, and discuss what has happened and why, why it happened that way. We need to be able to reach the correct conclusions. I am confident that the most information about what happened and why is concentrated in this very hall. But it is very important to be able to process, analyze that information, and come to conclusions because the vast amount of that information can simply exist, but one may not be able to understand, process, or draw conclusions from it. Thus, we have very difficult and heavy work ahead of us, including in terms of preserving public and state security. We must accept this challenge, confront it with the goal of strengthening our state, with the aim of establishing real state institutions, with the objective of creating a situation where our statements about the protection of our state interests will be backed by specific institutional guarantees, allowing us to overcome our set standards,” Prime Minister Pashinyan stated.

Argishti Kyaramyan expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister and NSS employees for their collaborative work. “It is a great honor for me to serve, even for a short period, in the NSS system. I also want to wish success to Mr. Abazyan, who is taking on this important position during a very difficult period. I am confident that Mr. Abazyan will succeed, and may God protect us all,” Kyaramyan said.

In turn, Armen Abazyan thanked Prime Minister Pashinyan for his trust and noted that he and his colleagues will do everything to ensure that the Constitution operates regularly in the Republic of Armenia. “Any official in the occupied position, regardless of their affiliation, will be subjected to all penalties prescribed by law in cases of illegality. I also want to thank my colleagues for their patriotic and highly responsible work since September 27 and in the ongoing processes,” said the newly appointed NSS director.