TER-PETROSIAN DEFENDS KARABAKH STANCE
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Jan 30 2008
Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian brushed aside on Wednesday
accusations of defeatism leveled against him by President Robert
Kocharian and reaffirmed his stated commitment to seeking a compromise
solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Campaigning in the eastern Gegharkunik region, the opposition candidate
said he will make peace with Azerbaijan and ensure continued Armenian
control over Karabakh if he wins the upcoming presidential election.
Reacting to Ter-Petrosian’s harsh anti-government rhetoric at the
weekend, Kocharian renewed his allegations that his predecessor is
ready to place the disputed region back under Azerbaijani rule. He
said Ter-Petrosian would go so far as to disband Armenia’s armed
forces in order to "get chummy with Azerbaijan."
"If he takes cooperation of peoples and good neighborhood as
chumminess, that is the expression of his cultural level, his state
of mind," Ter-Petrosian shot back at a campaign rally in Vartenis,
a small town near the eastern shore of Lake Sevan.
"Yes, I am stating that the land which has been Armenian for 3,000
years will remain Armenian for another 3,000," he said, referring to
Karabakh. "That achievement has to be formalized by an international
treaty, after which we will cooperate and establish good-neighborly
relations with Azerbaijan.
"Because our main conduit to the outside world is Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani railway used to handle 85 percent of Armenia’s external
cargo turnover."
Ter-Petrosian was forced to step down ten years ago by his key cabinet
members, including then Prime Minister Kocharian, for advocating
a phased settlement of the conflict with Azerbaijan that would
indefinitely delay agreement on Karabakh’s status. Kocharian and his
allies stood for a so-called package peace deal that would formalize
Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan and settle all sticking points
at once. The Kocharian administration now appears to have agreed, in
principle, to international mediators’ most recent peace plan which
is very similar to the one advocated by Ter-Petrosian in 1997 and 1998.
Verbal attacks on Kocharian and Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian
were again the central theme of Ter-Petrosian’s speeches in the
unemployment-stricken area. He again charged that their decade-long
rule has been "based" on vote rigging and the 1999 terrorist attack
on the Armenian parliament.
"Imagine Robert Kocharian’s rule continuing for another ten years in
the form of Serzh Sarkisian," he told hundreds of people rallying in
Vartenis. "This is such a nightmarish prospect which I wouldn’t wish
even to my enemies."
"Take back the victories which were stolen from you in [the
presidential elections of] 1998 and 2003. This is your victory. Take
care of your victory," added outspoken ex-president.
"Yerevan is with us," claimed one of his top allies, Hanrapetutyun
party leader Aram Sarkisian. "We’ve won there. We only have to prevail
in the regions."
Ter-Petrosian, who himself had been accused of rigging elections
while in power, attracted visibly strong voter interest during his
latest campaign trip, with hundreds of people attending his rallies
in Vartenis, the nearby town of Martuni and several local villages.
In two of those villages, opposition supporters slaughtered sheep
and danced to folk music as they greeted Ter-Petrosian.
While the number of people listening to his speeches was relatively
high, not all of them were Ter-Petrosian supporters. "He destroyed
what we had. How can we be happy?" said one man, recalling Armenia’s
economic meltdown of the early 1990s.
"I had no job here during his rule and I have no job now," said
another. "Nor will I have one under the next president."