I Am Confident That the Police Will Ensure Citizens' Right to Free Elections: Pashinyan

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in a meeting of the Police Colleague in honor of Police Day. Before the meeting, the Prime Minister laid flowers at the memorial plaque installed in the courtyard of the Police Headquarters, paying tribute to all police officers who lost their lives for the sake of the Homeland.

The Prime Minister's press office reports that during the meeting, he delivered a speech in which he particularly noted, “Esteemed Chief of Police of the Republic of Armenia, respected members of the Police Collegium, heads of subdivisions, deputies, honorable officials of the Police and the Police Forces, after our words of tribute and remembrance, allow me to once again congratulate you and all of us on the occasion of Police Day and thank you for your service.

I want to emphasize that for over a year now, the Police of the Republic of Armenia have been, to put it mildly, overloaded. First, the COVID-19 pandemic, which began to unfold in the Republic of Armenia more than a year ago, posed new challenges for the state and the Police. The main institution responsible for ensuring compliance with anti-epidemic rules was the Police of the Republic of Armenia. This, indeed, was an additional burden for the daily operations of the Police. That is, we were faced with a situation that, in essence, the Police had not dealt with before.

Then came the 44-day war, in which police officers and members of the Police Forces took a direct and effective part, showcasing their heroism, and sadly many personnel lost their lives for the sake of the Homeland. Additionally, several dozen police officers suffered severe injuries and became disabled.

After the 44-day war, internal political tensions flared up, and I want to express my satisfaction that, perhaps, we now have an unprecedented phenomenon in world history, that despite months of calls for killing, shooting, execution, and violence in the Republic of Armenia, we managed to resolve the internal political situation without violence. Moreover, I wish to emphasize that even those forces that called for violence did not have the opportunity to exert violence, except, of course, for the events of the night of the 9th to the 10th, when a significant part of our Police and law enforcement agencies was on the front line, participating in the defense of the borders of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh.

I consider this an important achievement of our law enforcement system, including the Police, that we were able to follow a path that allowed us to not create an atmosphere of hatred or enmity, but to genuinely unite the people of the Republic of Armenia, the people of Artsakh, and the Armenian people around our statehood, legality, and rule of law.

In the near future, of course, there is much to be done in this regard. We are expecting extraordinary parliamentary elections, and I hope and truly believe that the law enforcement agencies of the Republic of Armenia, the Police, will be able to ensure law and order, legality, and the citizens' right to free elections.

I want to again express that during this time, beginning in 2018, in all my interactions with law enforcement agencies, including the Police, both publicly and privately, the issue raised has been as follows: to ensure the legal process of elections, to provide all necessary conditions for the free expression of will for the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, and to exclude any possibility of bribery and illegal influence on the will of voters. I am confident that together we will be able to resolve this issue.

Dear colleagues, I want to thank you again for your service. I want to express my words of tribute for all police officers who fell for the Homeland and their families and emphasize that our greatest obligation to their memory, and our greatest service to their memory will be to truly create a strong, just, and lawful country.

We spoke about our police officers who fell during the war, but I also want to emphasize our police officers who have died in the fight against crime, because they also gave their lives for the sake of the Homeland, the people, justice, and legality. Our words of tribute to all our fallen police officers, our supportive words to all police officers who suffered disabilities.

I believe that the Republic of Armenia and, I am confident, the Police will do everything and are doing everything to be alongside these partners and their families. And once again, I want to thank all of you for your service to the Republic of Armenia, for your services rendered to legality, rule of law, and public order.

Mister Ghazaryan, under your leadership, be assured that this work is deserving and receiving high appreciation. And I want to emphasize that the context is such that this work is being highly appreciated not only by the government but also by the public in general.

You know, it is very important to state that perhaps what happened during this period and the quality of management and resolution of the situation cannot yet be assessed, because we are still in the process, but be assured that it will earn very high appreciation because, I say, it will become clear that there has been no precedent in the world for a country faced with such a severe situation, in the domain of such dividing lines, to be able to resolve internal conflicts and disagreements under such conditions, resulting in not deepening hatred, but rather creating real and genuine preconditions for the unity of the entire people, for addressing the challenges facing our state.

Nevertheless, this by no means signifies that we should forget or others should forget that the Police and law enforcement agencies are force bodies and have the right to exert legal force in all cases where, of course, persons or circles inclined to breach the law cross lines that cannot be crossed.

Once again, allow me to thank you and wish you success in ensuring law and order, legality, and public safety in the Republic of Armenia.”

Subsequently, at the meeting, a report was presented on the results of the work carried out by the Police in 2020 and measures aimed at ensuring law and order.