FORMER PRES. TER-PETROSYAN: ARMENIA’S CURRENT RULERS "WILL DEFINITELY GO" SOONER OR LATER
By Appo Jabarian
USA Armenian Life Magazine
November 24, 2009
The recent shifts in Armenia’s political landscape have added to
the dimensions of the intra-national politics with interesting
twists-and-turns. The most revealing public statements by Armenia’s
former Pres. Levon Ter-Petrosyan have raised several eyebrows in
Armenia and the Diaspora.
According to ArmeniaLiberty.org, on Saturday, November 14 Armenian
daily "Haykakan Zhamanak" disclosed additional details of last
Wednesday’s high-level meeting of the opposition Armenian National
Congress (HAK) which began with a keynote speech by its leader Levon
Ter-Petrosyan. The paper says the speech was followed by a "frank
conversation" during which Ter-Petrosyan assured his top loyalists
that Armenia’s current rulers "will definitely go" sooner or later.
The challenge, he is quoted as saying, is to make sure that they
are not replaced by other "petty dictators." He also said that the
international community has given President Serzh Sargsyan a blank
check to do "anything he wants inside the country" in return for his
concessions to Azerbaijan and Turkey.
However, in an effort to carry out his push-pull strategy, he
signaled his "readiness, in principle, to recognize the legitimacy of
President Serzh Sargsyan and … and support other key provisions of
the fence-mending agreements recently signed by Yerevan and Ankara
last month. That includes an explicit and official recognition by
Armenia of its existing border with Turkey."
In recent weeks, Ter-Petrosyan has offered to forge a political
alliance with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun).
But he suddenly resorted to calling the patriotic Armenians and
especially the Dashnak party supporters "extreme nationalists" in
retaliation of Dashnaktsutyun Armenia Supreme leadership’s refusal to
join forces with him. His sense of rejection has fueled his vitriolic
attacks against the Dashnak party.
He said that "according to Dashnaktsutyun, Armenia must build its
relations with Turkey on such conditions that shouldn’t discount
in the future the possibility of presenting the demands for the
latter’s recognition of the Genocide, [return of] lands, and financial
compensation. Turkey would never agree to such conditions; and that
"the notion of ‘historical rights’ is no longer valid in international
relations and international law."
Ankara needs to look no further than Ter-Petrosyan in order to find
a reliable ally in obstructing the justice by derailing the rights
of the victims for reparations and return of Turkish-occupied lands
in Western Armenia, in favor of the perpetrator of Genocide, Turkey.
Interestingly, Armenia’s first president went on to accuse
Dashnaktsutyun, and other political groups and figures sharing its
views on Turkey of adding "non-existent sins to the numerous sins
committed by Sargsyan."
During his Armenian National Congress party’s Nov. 11 general assembly,
he also said that "Despite the impressive protest demonstrations in
Armenia and Diaspora, Serzh Sargsyan …. signed the problematic
Protocols obviously not because of governing based on state and
national interests but to gain international legitimacy and to preserve
his power." Ter-Petrosyan stated that Pres. Sargsyan was assisted in
signing the Armenian-Turkish Protocols by various bodies and entities
and "Armenia’s criminal-oligarchic" structures.
One wonders why Ter-Petrosyan didn’t confront the criminal-oligarchs
during his presidency.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
