Vahe Ghazaryan to head Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia

ArmInfo.By the decree of the President of the Republic of Armenia, Vahe Ghazaryan, who holds the post of Chief of police, will head the newly established Ministry  of Internal Affairs. This was reported by the press service of the  President of the Republic of Armenia.

Earlier, the president signed a decree on the release of Ghazaryan  from the post of Chief of the RA police.

Acting Deputy Chiefs of Police of the Republic of Armenia Aram  Hovhannisyan and Kamo Yuyulyan were removed from their posts by other  decrees.

On November 24, 2022, the Government of Armenia approved a draft  amendment to the law "On the structure and activities of the  government", as well as 36 related laws in order to establish the  Ministry of Internal Affairs and liquidate the Ministry of Emergency  Situations.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs will include 3 major services - the  police, the rescue service, and the migration and citizenship  service. In this regard, the ministry will cover 5 main functional  areas - public order, crime prevention and detection, disaster risk  prevention and management, migration and citizenship, state reserves  management and humanitarian issues. The heads of services will be  appointed by the prime minister. He will also appoint and dismiss  deputies, but at the suggestion of the minister. The department for  internal security and the fight against corruption will function  under the direct subordination of the minister, which will control  the quality of the work of the entire ministry.

The chief of police will continue to carry out day-to-day direct  management of the police, and the minister of the interior will be  responsible for developing and implementing industry policies, making  appointments in the position of the core police group.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the key point of the  proposed reform is not only the reduction in the number of  ministries, but the formation of a new standard police and rescue  service. As Pashinyan pointed out, the head of police will be both  the deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and a member of  the Security Council. The police troops will be reorganized into the  Police Guard, which has expanded functions in terms of security. It  is also planned to introduce a voluntary certification process, which  will at least double the salary of police officers and rescuers.