TER-PETROSIAN SAID TO HOLD RALLIES
By Astghik Bedevian and Ruzanna Stepanian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 4 2007
Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian will hold one and possibly
more rallies in Yerevan before finally deciding whether to stand
in next year’s presidential election, a former comrade-in-arms said
on Thursday.
"Not one but two or probably three rallies are planned," said Rafael
Ghazarian, an elderly academic who was, along with Ter-Petrosian, one
of the members of the Karabakh Committee that led the 1988 movement
for Nagorno-Karabakh’s unification with Armenia.
"Until he meets and addresses the masses and hears their reaction,
he won’t make a decision. He will try to talk to the popular masses.
Unfortunately, the only means [of struggle] is rallies because they
won’t let him talk on any TV channel," he told RFE/RL, adding that
the rallies will be held in late October or early November.
Ghazarian said Ter-Petrosian made while paying a surprise visit to his
Yerevan home the previous night. It was the first face-to-face meeting
between the two prominent men in many years. Like several other members
of the Karabakh Committee, Ghazarian fell out with Ter-Petrosian and
became a vocal opponent of Armenia’s former leadership in the early
1990s, accusing it of reversing democratic reforms and tolerating
government corruption.
Ghazarian, who is now seriously ill, was clearly moved by
Ter-Petrosian’s visit. "I am pleased with that," he said. "The country
is in a critical situation. We must forget mutual offenses, mutual
accusations. In that sense, Levon is in a more difficult position
because I have for years been his bitter critic."
"He had to forgive and get over that. And this is what I think he did,"
added Ghazarian.
Ending his nearly decade-long silence with a speech on September 21,
Ter-Petrosian condemned Armenia’s current leadership in unusually
strong terms and called for its ouster. He accused the authorities
of rigging elections, breaking laws, restricting civil liberties and
extorting bribes from businessmen.
President Robert Kocharian and Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian have
rejected the accusations. Former Ter-Petrosian associates like
Ghazarian have also scoffed at the high-profile speech, arguing that
he ex-president was dogged by similar accusations during his 1990-1998
rule and showed no remorse for his administration’s mistakes.
"I think that he does not deny there were such mistakes," said
Ghazarian. Asked whether Ter-Petrosian is ready to publicly acknowledge
them, he replied, "As far as I understood, he is going to do that."
Ter-Petrosian similarly took many observers and politicians by surprise
when he met last Saturday top leaders of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), a pro-Kocharian party which he had banned
in 1994. The talks were construed as a further indication that he is
leaning towards a presidential run.
Ter-Petrosian aides insisted on Thursday that he has still not made a
decision. Aleksandr Arzumanian, who had served as foreign minister in
the Ter-Petrosian administration, argued that he has yet to complete
his consultations with various political groups and nationwide meetings
with supporters. The 62-year-old ex-president visited the eastern
Gegharkunik region over the weekend and is due in the southeastern
Syunik province later this week.
"His concern is to change this situation," Arzumanian told RFE/RL.
"As he said, we need a single [opposition presidential] candidate to
be able to confront this regime."
Arzumanian also ruled out the possibility of Ter-Petrosian meeting
Kocharian or Sarkisian. "No discussions are possible with those
responsible for this situation," he said.