While reading through the comments after the article, I was astonished how individuals can degrade each other. There is no doubt that there is corruption in the Armenia political scene. This is not "new" news. This story finally reached out to those who don't live in Armenia, to understand the challenges many face to even enroll in higher education in Armenia. But just because the system is corrupt, doesn't mean the generalization exists for all. I lived in Armenian for over two years and found the people very hospitable, friendly, and people I call "Family". I know that Armenia is small in size, small in numbers, but they are big in heart.

right on Ara!

In order to understand corruption, we have to ask another question: How much are the members of the entrance committee being paid by the Ministry of Education? For that matter, how much are traffic militia being paid? There is an Armenian saying: "Everybody weeps for his own child" (amen mart ir manukeh ku la). Part of the solution to corruption lies in improving the overall economic situation in Armenia. And that takes time and difficult compromises. Of course, if we Armenians had the same mentality as the Jews and we stuck together like they do, maybe we would not be in this mess to begin with.

I am not Armenian...I am, in fact, Jewish.

to: " a teacher" If a Jew/Israeli tries to think, let alone say it in public, and bring the Holocaust to even remotely make a connection to another subject....is ELIMINATED, period. You Armenians cheapen your Genocide, but for us the Holocaust is sacred, someone wrote that 49 people were eliminated by our Shin Bet, well, thats the official number, the real number of eliminated people who have made comparisons between the Holocaust and other subjects, are much higher.I am reading in awe,and I'm not even Armenian, how some here are "legitimizing" that comparison, writing as one did:"may be legitimate to draw attention to the problem.." Such audacity, I don't and will never understand Armenians. No wonder no one respects you as a people or a nation. If YOU don't respect your past...........you are forever become slaves to other peoples.

Yes. I even see a connection between the potato prices on April 24, 1915 and the Genocide. The prices compelled the Ottoman government to go ballistic and butcher 2 million innocent Armenians. To all those who remotely think that using and utilizing a sad chapter in our history, and cheapening it, you are wrong. Corruption is corruption, as my Sociologist told me recenly, and those who are trying to cheapen it are wrong, dead wrong. Next time any of you guys lose a few Drams, blame the unfortunate incident on Genocide. The Turks have already made the word Genocide...dirt cheap...hearing this unrealistic connection coming from our master John Hughes, and his disciples, is scary and dangerous. Whatever happened to the respect for the people who died for being Armenian? Connect corruption to greed, selfishness, immorality and lack of solid character, but please do Not even remotely connect it to the Genocide.

Why is everyone ignoring what this article was really about??? Why is there discussion about Israel? This is an article about corruption and about the terrible injustices that disabled people in Armenia face EVERYDAY. Vachagan is correct, lets be passionate about the real subject here.

The use of comparison between corruption and genocide may look incorrect by fact but it may be legitimate to draw attention to the problem. Unless we all understand that committing an act of receiving or giving a bribe or practicing nepotism we undermine the state of Armenia and make it more vulnerable to external threats such as - YES, ANOTHER GENOCIDE, we won't get wiser and won't be any better than I believe was the silent 'corrupt' majority in the Turkish empuire that allowed corrupt and criminal authorities to perpetrate the genocide against innocent Armenian countrymen. Often we can hear Armenian authorities discard the threat posed by Azeris petrodollars saying that the corrupt system in the rival state devours the greater part of the petrodollars and that's why economically they still remain shaky and cannot achieve a military buildup capable of solving the problem of Karabakh by force. But if we admit that corruption can retard a nation, we shuold also admit that reducing corruption may be helping in achieving prosperity. And failure to fight corruption makes Armenia more vulnerable to risks such as aggression and annexation from neighbors, therefore it is like committing genocide against oneselves.

Here is a thought I would like to share: I have asked many people why there is so much corruption in Armenia? The most common answer has been to put the blame on the Soviet period and the mentality. It would seem that during the Soviet period the ‘only way’ to progress socially was essentially by being corrupt. By opposition Armenians of the Diaspora evolved in other countries where they had to do exactly the opposite to be successful: they had to create a label of “trust”, work hard and put their talents at work. Not all of them did it of course. The result: There is a 'tendency' for Armenians from Armenia (not all of them course) to continue having such a behavior when they come out to the West. Because, this is what they are used to and its a quick way forward under difficult immigration conditions. This problem, in Armenia, can only be solved by a clean leadership who can lead “by example”. There is NO OTHER way. And unless corruption is done with Armenia won’t progress.

What is the Ministry of Education going to do about this "magharitch"? Please write a follow up story.

Israeli from Israel. Armen....dead wrong. Sam......dead right Shin-Bet: Internal Israeli secret service.More secretive than the Mossad. Sorry Armen, you lost to Sam. Here is an advice to my Armenian friends: IF, and thats a giant IF, you want to have a stable, strong, no nonsense country like Israel........UNITE. The only weakness Armenians have is that they are forever divided politically. Your history shows how different political parties in and outside Armenia hate each other...BIG MISTAKE. Take it from us: UNITED YOU STAND, DIVIDED you are chopped and thrown into the darkest pit on the earth. I love Armenia and Armenians, but first..you have to love yourselves and clean house.

I am not an Armenian, but as someone here posted a message that caught my attention. This is my impression of the Armenian people.When dealing with Armenia Armenians, I have to watch my language and my wallet, they mostly are corrupt and uncivilized. Dealing with other diaspora Armenians, great people, humble, honest, educated and civilized. maybe it is about time that Armenia Armenians clean their act, behave better, not steal and rob, and before I forget..they like to cause trouble, fight for absolutely no reason. FYI: I live with my beautiful Armenian wife who was born and bred in a civilized American Armenian family from Boston.My message here is to the Armenians from Armenia, when you come here, please be civilized, and you will win the hearts and minds of America.

Why not the government have a group of "super secret" police, who goes around and execute all corrupt officials one at a time, and clean Armenia of these thives? I too beleive that "connecting the Genoceide to corruption" is dead wrong. But instead, all Armenians should go out into the streets of Yerevan and ask for an end to this shameful, almost Armenian trait??

Dear Sam, thank you for your comment. Here are some comments from my end. When Israel became independent it counted only a few tens of thousands of Jews. Now, it counts 10Mio Jews! They created a powerful, advanced, wealthy country out of nothing & which can feed everyone. They didn’t do that by being corrupt thieves. Armenia has managed to lose 33% of its population since independence. Armenia’s resistance to total collapse is ONLY due to the fact that it constantly exports population. This process continues as we speak and is not expected to slow down. Shin Beth: If it could get Armenia to leap from its state of backward slide into the middle ages to the same level as Israel then I accept to be shot in public on the Hraparak. Unfortunately shooting me won’t help. By the way Shin Beth is a political party not the Israeli secret services ( = Mossad). Finally: Shooting and killing individuals for their opinions is typical of Armenia’s secret services and a heritage of KGB. The Mossad is a modern and evolved service which has no time to waste on such stupid and backward operations. It has put in place an extensive network to connect jewish diaspora to Israel and has advanced strategies. Armenian National Security is currently headed by Arthur Baghdasaryan who is one of the most corrupt persons in Armenia. We saw that during the elections. So, it would be more useful to shoot him (than to shoot me) for I think that would deliver my people from the GENOCIDE they are currently victim of. Watch the vid again and think about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg7f35iG4Yw

Dear Matthew,, The sad part of all is this IS THAT THIS TIME WE CAN DO SOMETHING!!! But we fail to act - Doubly tragic and diasterous!!!

Why is it that some readers write passionatly about something in the article and ignor the main point. All of you writing so strongly about the reference to Genocide, save your energies to correct what was the main point stated in the article.

I find it ridiculous to discuss executing people in this day and age. Whether another country has decided that this is a good way to institute justice should make no difference in Armenia. I am not Armenian, but I live here, and I am saddened everyday by the fact that people with disabilities are hidden away and treated like lepers. Where I am from, the government protects the rights of these individuals, they don't condemn them to a life in the shadows. I have no problem with reference to Genocide, as it makes people talk, and sit up and notice the injustices that Armenians are inflicting upon themselves. Journalism is supposed to make us think, and sometimes it takes inflammatory statements to do that.

Good article but the reference to genocide is in no way suitable and justifiable Even the next Armenian generations will have to deal with the heavy “wound” and consequences of Armenian Genocide! As long as Turkey is not ready to face her past and ready to make peace with Armenian people, Armenian Genocide will remain like a “fresh wound” for the Armenian nation!

This is for Armen. You wrote:"I actually find the usage of the word genocide quite suitable. It might be emotionally charged and hard to accept. But I do believe that beyond analogical language it is quite concise. The demonstration is long to make here but for all those who require a structured and rational demonstration here is a vid you can watch which illustrates the point." Here is what Israeli super secret agency, the Shin-Bet did to those who remotely equated the Holocaust to corruption...45 people executed since 1948 for equating the Holocaust to anything BUT the Holocaust. 45 people worldwide, 5 of those Jews. If you are interested to read about the article, say so on this forum, and I will post for all to read. But don't go around disrespecting the 2 millions who died so that YOU can live. Shame on you. Corruption is corruption, let me remind you and remind Mr Hughes, that your stupid and naive reasoning is hazardous to every single Armenian worldwide. Yes, Armenians, including yourself are corrupt to the core. We need to institute executions for any governmental official caught stealing money. But we cannot and should not compare it to the Genocide.

Irrespective of the corruption, which mind you is destroying Armenia, no one, and I mean no one, whether Armenian or not, should have the right, let alone the "permission" to equate the Genocide with corruption. What does corruption have to do with the Genocide? I see absolutely no connection between the two. If we, Armenians, eliminate ourselves, kill each other and lose Armenia, then so be it, shame on us. But when you are butchered like cattle at the hands of murderous thuggish Ottoman regime, well...now you have opened pandoras box which is full of the cries of the innocent babies, women and the old, on their way to be die at the hands of the murderous Ottomans. Writing about the corruption is an act of courage, but equating it with the Genocide...TREASON.

Love the CSN reference in title. Let me ask those who have taken you to task for Genocide comparison what those who perished in 1915 would have said regarding the absolutely inhuman treatment of Armenians by Armenians?? Do we honor their memmory by such acts and countless others that are paralyzing our attempts to build a nation that we can be proud of??

Dear readers, It behooves all living in Armenia to contact the Ministry of Education website and make your outrage none. You should send a copy of this article to them as well. People should understand that the role of an independent press is to inform society of the facts. It is up to the members of that society to act as they see fit. The time to ask other people to do the job that must be done is long past.. Journalists, al least the professional ones, do not get involved in social/political affairs!!!! THEY JUST REPORT THE NEWS!!!!

John, I hope to read in the near future about what was done to get these basterds fired from their jobs. I hope something is being done instead of passivly accepting things as they are. These things got to to be stopped and now is as good a time as any. Please start a fund to support your friends case to fight this injustice.

Why is it that I don't see this kind of corruption amongst my Armenian bretheren who come from abroad? It is ONLY us, Armenia Armenians that are inflicted with this dreaded disease. I agreed everything this article talks about, except that thinly veiled "covert" relationship between the Genocide and corruption. And before I forget, Armen...the mass killings and butchering of OUR people in 1915 is spelled: Genocide and Not genocide.

John, It is shameful that these things happen at all. These problems ar perpatuated because no one is willing to fight against it. Everyone has this passive "complain and do nothing about it, let others do" mentality. Those corrupt people know that they will get away with it and so they keep on doing these things. Thanks for the article, I am still intersted about what you and your friend will be doing about it. Paying the money is not the answer I am expecting.

Thank you for this courageous report... indeed there exists 100´s far more worst cases ! Well… Yerevan city authorities has spent millions of dollars for buying “new small busses” how many of this new busses can be used by handicapped in Yerevan? is a handicapped war veteran really able to use Metro in Yerevan!? Whenever we Armenians start talking to Turks about Armenian genocide , Turkish politicians act a way as if we were in "Turkish a bazaar” … around 1915 Armenians in “Western Armenia” were progressive and “modern” this was one of the many reasons why Turkish nationalist were afraid of Armenians… Today, a corrupt system, corrupt and incompetent officials are doing a lot of harm to Armenia and Armenian question in the whole! We have a mentality problem. I hope I am mistaken but it seems a big part of Armenia intellectual class has failed to address grievances in the society and demand solutions and consequences … these grievances and shorts comings have nothing to do with NK or closed “Turkish boarders”… beside “mentality problem” there we do not have a system of check and balance !

I am saddened by this reality. It is a shame that the countries institutions which are supposed to help it's growth rely on such means of living themselves. Maybe when the top goes clean so will the bottom.

I ask John - how do you change the ethics/culture of an entire nation/state? I believe this is not a unique case, and possibly almost everybody is subject to and is prone to subject others to corruption in Armenia, if given a chance. How do eliminate this "me and my family against the rest of the world" way of thinking???

Armenians are loathe to accept the realities that are destroying our nation. Are such practices to be overlooked when practiced by Armenians? Such actions, as someone else has pointed out, lead to the same inevitable end - a nation whose people are leaving. Yes, this time it is voluntary...or is it really??

Nice article John. I actually find the usage of the word genocide quite suitable. It might be emotionally charged and hard to accept. But I do believe that beyond analogical language it is quite concise. The demonstration is long to make here but for all those who require a structured and rational demonstration here is a vid you can watch which illustrates the point. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg7f35iG4Yw

"disgusting inhuman and utterly unArmenian" Which Armenia do you live in? I wish i could say the same but it is exactly the Armenia i see and face every day.

John I agreed with you in the past on almost all the reasonable articles that you've penned, but...comparing the Genocide with Corruption was outright wrong. If it was up to me, I would shoot every bribed official, be it in the government or the educational system. Yes, I am ashamed to see a beautiful person, and a smart one too, denied her rights. Beleive me, I salute you for exposing the corruption. And I beleive that in the future, anti corruption articles should be affixed on every wall in Armenia. Having said that, I will humbly disagree with your assessment and especially I could not comprehend the logic used comparing(even remotely) corruption to the horrific events of 1915, the massacre and butchering of 2 million Armenians which we call Genocide. I do beleive, however, that you did not mean what you wrote, and we consider you a friend of the Armenian people.Your Armenian friend, Greg

disgusting inhuman and utterly unArmenian...

I really don't see why all the fuss about John's somewhat stretched comparison. We are indeed condoning the slow death of our natiom, either by tacit complicity or outright participation in such heinous and destructive practices. This example is just the tip of an iceberg that detsroys initiative, personal freedom and leads people to either leave Armenia or see themselves as being cursed for not being able to leave. The result will be the same as in 1915. The destruction of the nation . This time it might be slower and by our own hands. But we are now going down the same road and we'll have no one else to blame but ourselves.

I loved your article. It expresses a sad truth. Lets keep hope that all that will change sometime in the future.

John, you CANNOT and SHOULD NOT compare the massacre of 2 million Armenians to the corruption in Armenia. I agree with you, that corruption is rampant and is part of the daily life in Armenia, and that corrupt people should be locked up, or even shot(as is the custom in China), but comparing it with the Genocide is outright WRONG. I challenge you to write an article on Israeli corruption(remember they too have a corrupt system, the prime minister is losing his job)and try to compare it to the Holocaust......monumental mistake that will attract the attention of the Mossad and the Shin Bet. So, stop your nonsensicle comparisons. Shame on you for trivializing the Genocide and euating it with the corruption.

It is too bad, Mr. Hughes, you will go to any lengths to “prove” your point. How dare you compare a genocide with anything? Corruption in the education system is horrific and should not, under any circumstances, be tolerated. Period. However, to compare corruption in the education system to genocide is simply an indication of your lack of understanding about the horrific atrocities which Armenians and other have suffered. Your long years in Armenia do not give you the inherent right to pretend you understand suffering. Clearly you do not.

"Armenians have no right to hate the Turks for what they did in 1915-18 if, in 2008, such unacceptable shadow policy is allowed to continue – perpetuated by Armenians themselves – as a genocide of conscience against its future generations." Sir--your reasoning is absolutely inappropiate. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."