UNDECIDED TER-PETROSIAN ENDS SILENCE, BLASTS ‘CRIMINAL REGIME’
By Emil Danielyan and Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Sept 24 2007

Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian broke his nearly decade-long
silence Friday with an unusually harsh attack on the current
authorities in Yerevan which he branded "criminal and corrupt" and
accused of turning Armenia into a "third world country."

Making his first public speech since his dramatic resignation in 1998,
Ter-Petrosian said he has still not decided whether or not participate
in the upcoming presidential election. He also reiterated his belief
that Armenia’s sustainable development is impossible without a
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the opening of its
borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey.

"I have not made a decision yet," Ter-Petrosian told hundreds of
admiring and expectant loyalists who gathered at a Yerevan hotel to
celebrate the 16th anniversary of Armenia’s independence. "I am still
examining, weighing up, considering things. My approach is purely
political. I can’t be guided by emotions. Adventurism is alien to
my character."

"Until I know the effectiveness of my would-be steps, I won’t take
steps. Of course, there is a change of atmosphere, a change of mood but
in my view, but it has not yet, so to speak, come to a boil," he said.

The remarks will reinforce the widely held belief that Ter-Petrosian
is not sure that he is popular enough to mount a serious challenge to
Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, the reputed election favorite. Many
Armenians apparently continue to associate their 62-year-old former
leader with severe hardship they had suffered following the Soviet
collapse and the outbreak of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia’s
current leadership has exploited that sentiment to keep Ter-Petrosian
and his allies on the political sidelines ever since forcing them
out of power in February 1998.

Ter-Petrosian, who has been touring the country to gauge popular
support for his comeback for the past several weeks, said that he
would have trouble getting his message across. He emphasized the fact
that all major Armenian TV stations are controlled by or loyal to
the Kocharian-Sarkisian duo. "We must find ways of overcoming that,"
he said.

Ter-Petrosian indicated that he also needs to build broad-based
opposition support for his presidential bid and does not think
that his traditional support base, mainly made up of his Armenian
Pan-National Movement (HHSh) party, alone can help him make a strong
election showing. "The only way to get rid of these authorities is
the consolidation of all sound political, public, intellectual and
spiritual forces around a single [presidential] candidate," he said.

The Ter-Petrosian camp also comprises several HHSh splinter groups as
well as Armenia’s most radical opposition party, Hanrapetutyun. None
of the other major opposition parties has publicly voiced support
for the reclusive ex-president’s return to power.

Echoing the Hanrapetutyun leaders’ discourse, Ter-Petrosian
described regime change as the chief national priority. "We have
an institutionalized mafia-style regime which has plunged us into
the ranks of third world counties," he charged. "Survival of this
government gives us no chance of ever getting out of this situation."

Ter-Petrosian added that he thinks the "greatest crime" committed
by Kocharian and Sarkisian was their failure to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He said Azerbaijan is less and less prepared
to make concessions to the Armenian side because of its mounting oil
revenues. "From now on they will not agree to any concessions. I don’t
know what needs to be done to get out of this situation," he said.

Ter-Petrosian was forced to step down by his key ministers, including
Kocharian and Sarkisian, after publicly advocating an internationally
drafted peace plan that called for a gradual settlement of the
Karabakh conflict indefinitely delaying agreement on the disputed
territory’s status. His hard-line opponents rejected the proposed
plan as "defeatist," demanding that the international mediators come
up with a package peace deal that would uphold Karabakh’s secession
from Azerbaijan. But this did not prevent them from embracing the
mediators’ existing proposals that have a lot in common with the ones
advocated by Ter-Petrosian.

Ter-Petrosian complained that many Armenians still do not think that
their and their country’s prosperity is contingent on Karabakh peace.

"Unless there is such understanding, I think nothing should be done
and we should sit in our homes and see Armenia into a third world
country whose sole capital is export of labor," he said.

Ter-Petrosian further accused the Kocharian administration of rigging
elections, trampling on laws, extorting bribes from businessmen,
illegally influencing courts and restricting press freedom.

Critics of the former Armenian leadership will counter that Armenia
lacked rule of law and independent courts and broadcast media
even before Kocharian came to power. They believe that the culture
of electoral fraud emerged in the country during Ter-Petrosian’s
eight-year rule.

None of the elections held in Armenia at the time were judged free
and fair by international observers. In fact, Ter-Petrosian sent
troops to the streets of Yerevan in September 1996 to quell violent
opposition protests against the official results of a reputedly rigged
presidential election that gave victory to the incumbent.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress