STRATEGIC RESEARCH CENTER MAKES SENSATIONAL DISCLOSURES
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on April 30, 2008
Armenia
The Strategic Research Center of Moscow has published an analytical
report entitled "The Presidential Elections of Armenia from the Point
of View of Ex-President L. Ter-Petrosyan’s Influence on the Internal
Political and Electoral Processes".
The "Analytical Report" provides a detailed description of the stages
of Ter-Petrosyan’s political career from 1988 onwards. In particular,
the Russian analysts provide the following information on L.
Ter-Petrosyan’s political steps:
"L. Ter-Petrosyan did not stand close to the sources of the
Karabakh Movement; he joined it later, after feeling that this force
might bring him to power. And the fact that he, together with his
companions-in-arms, was arrested by Mr. Gorbachov’s decree made him
a hero. And that he was released just six months later is estimated
as a proof of the fact that Mr. Ter-Petrosyan was recruited by the
Soviet Intelligence Services.
There is some documented evidence on the real motives of
L. Ter-Petrosyan’s being involved in political processes in the 1980’s.
The orientalist, formerly less popular but materially well-off, was
pushed to the demonstration arena in April-May 1988 by the desire of
saving his brother, Telman Ter-Petrosyan who was accused of large-scale
embezzlement and bribe-taking and was in custody pending trial.
As reported by several sources, Telman Ter-Petrosyan, the manager
of one of the large enterprises, was not only one of the wealthiest
people in Armenia but also one of the masters of the ‘black cash’
of the Communist Party – a holder of amounts envisaged for giving
bribes on different levels through the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of Armenia.
And this key figure, one of the pillars of Soviet Armenia, was
overthrown by the Gorbachov-led system of ‘perestroyka’. It was
necessary not only to save Telman but also make the system collapse so
as it wouldn’t recover its punitive force. Therefore, together with the
pro-Karabakh speeches, one of the first appeals of L. Ter-Petrosyan
was ‘To remove the Prosecutor General of the Republic’. The appeal
was accepted with enthusiasm. The goal was achieved. The Prosecutor
General was removed from office, and the newly-hatched member of
Karabakh Committee had his brother released from prison.
As to L. Ter-Petrosyan’s second "advent" in autumn 2007, the analysts
of the Strategic Research Center of Moscow present quite interesting
observations in this regard."
In particular, the authors of the "Analytical Report" say that
Ter-Petrosyan and his team received tremendous amounts of financial
resources for the electoral campaign. Turkey and Azerbaijan provided
the funding through the Western Foundations.
The specialists of the Strategic Research Center are sure that
Ter-Petrosyan’s return to the political arena was not absolutely
impromptu. "There are grounds to assume that different foreign
structures played a special role at the stage of preparing his
return. Every year, the ‘British Council’ sends active young people to
study in the Public Policy School of the Birmingham University. For
being awarded the ‘Achieving’ scholarship, it is necessary to submit
recommendations from the liberal parties, and the Armenian Pan-National
Movement is one of them."
"There emerged the youth movement called ‘Sksel a’; it first organized
innocent flash mobbers and carnivals, attracting students to its
ranks. The movement was funded by Britain. Step by step, it became
politicized. Last year, the funding of the movement made up more than
100.000 pounds."
According to the data of the Strategic Research Center of Moscow,
the foundations named after Fredric Nauman and Fredric Ebert, as
well as "Eurasia" foundation and others provided funding to the
organizations supporting the Armenian Pan-National Movement for 10
years continuously.
In 2007, a number of activists belonging to anti-government youth
movements and having ties with the Armenian Pan-National Movements
(Ter-Petrosyan’s Press Secretary was one of them) were awarded
scholarships in different universities abroad, e.g. the United States,
Great Britain etc. During the whole year, the studied the political
technologies and returned to Armenia prior to Mr. Ter-Petrosyan’s
pre-election campaign.
"Since the very start of Ter-Petrosyan’s electoral struggle, the
group of politicians representing ‘Spectrum’ Strategic Analyses
Center have been working in Yerevan; they are also members the
International Institute of Strategic Research, London, The US
Naval Foundation. According to non-official data, ‘Spectrum’ is an
organization actively cooperating with the Turkish and Azerbaijani
Intelligence Analytical Center," the analysts of Moscow announce.
In addition to all this, it is worth mentioning that the activists
of the Armenian Pan-National Movement have received their Master’s
Degrees from the NATO University, studied in the Political Research
and Public Administration School of NATO, taken special leadership
courses in the G. Marshal European Center of Security Issues,
Garmish-Partenkirchen, Germany.
To be continued