In his article published on iLur.am, first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan talks about the coronavirus and the situation in Armenia.
According to him, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Armenia has found itself in a war that is much graver and much more dangerous than ordinary wars since the virus is everywhere and invisible and nobody is secured.
He adds that, based on his impression, the Armenian authorities are treating their duties with responsibility, in spite of some mistakes and shortcomings, and they are mainly taking all the possible and necessary steps. Judging from the public’s reactions, overall, the President positively assesses the work of medical workers, the police and the Ministry of Emergency Situations and emphasizes the major role of the Commandant for the State of Emergency and the health minister.
However, he notes that while the authorities are busy working round-the-clock, there is an enormous army of saboteurs and malicious people who are instilling hatred and enmity towards the authorities with the numerous presses and hundreds of ‘fakes’ under the control of well-known forces.
Taking all this into consideration, the President believes it is necessary to take certain steps that don’t require much effort, and those steps are the following:
1. Oblige the public to follow the instructions of the Commandant for the State of Emergency and the Minister of Health and strictly complete their assignments;
2. Stop the propaganda and actions for instilling lack of confidence and hatred in the authorities;
3. Address the anti-virus measures and advice and proposals regarding the social issues arising from those measures to the Commandant’s Office, creating within the Office a special group to explore those proposals and implement them when appropriate;
4. Stop the activities of the parliamentary committee leading a probe into the circumstances of the Four-Day Artsakh War temporarily since this irritates the people even more;
5. Put an end to the disturbances in regard to the elections in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and ensure full management of Artsakh through the speedy establishment of new state bodies;
6. Hope that the second and third Presidents of Armenia will order the presses under their control to stop leading a mad struggle against the authorities.
In closing, the President states that it is needless to say that, at this crucial moment in time, anyone who disturbs or fails to support the authorities and creates additional problems for them will put not only the country’s national security, but also their lives at risk.