Armenia’s First President Levon Ter-Petrosyan met President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Petros Eftimiu. The Leader of the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) noted that despite the long-lasting cooperation between Armenia and European structures, the collaboration is not effective for Armenia in terms of democracy, human rights and freedom of speech. In this context, he recalled the contradicting assessments of European structures in relation to the rigged elections in Armenia. Ter-Petrosyan also recalled widespread persecution, murders, arrests of hundreds of oppositional members, assaults on businesspeople following the elections which were actually ignored by Europe. The interlocutors further discussed the ways to overcome the political and socio-economic crisis in Armenia, in particular, the possibility of a dialogue between the authorities and opposition after the fulfillment of ANC’s demands and the necessity of holding snap elections. OSCE PA Secretary General Tina Shone, ANC representatives Levon Zurabyan, Avetis Avagyan and Vladimir Karapetyan participated in the meeting.
