The interview with Levon Ter-Petrosyan turned into a controversy.
Some people believe that the former president was trying to touch upon
the social/economic status by talking about his possible return to
politics, some think that he has never had such an outlook, otherwise
he would not express his point of views at the airport.
However, his comments made about the Karabagh peace settlement can not
be put aside. Levon Ter-Petrosyan said that not only is there no
progress in the peace settlement, but also, he sees negative
consequences. “I regret to say that. The conflict is getting deeper for
us and the solution for that is getting more difficult,” said the
former President of the Republic of Armenia. Is it possible for the
former Armenian authorities, along with Levon Ter-Petrosyan, to call on
the people to agree with the variant being proposed by both
international structures and the modern day Armenian authorities in
order to avoid the other variants which may come up as a result of the
delaying of the settlement? In response to this, the President of the
“Armat” (Root) NGO and former President of the National Assembly Babken
Ararktsyan said the following while being interviewed by a news agency.
“We can’t really say that for sure. We must know for sure which variant
is being proposed. We knew what was being proposed in 1997 and the
people knew too, that is why it disagreed. All we are doing today is
just talking about the problem. The things that I know are just talked
about. We know that each word in the documents means something. I can
personally say that if there is a variant, which is in some way
acceptable by Armenia, then I think that we must leave all ambitions
aside and move forward with that variant so that Armenia may have a
chance to develop and become a country like others. Of course, on one
condition: all the requirements for the security and development of
Nagorno Karabagh must be stated in the documents. However, since that
is not being stated in any proposals, I can only state my opinion
theoretically. Meanwhile, I can say that in any case, as far as I know,
the issue concerning Meghri and Lachin is not out of the picture and I
don’t consider that normal.” “168 hours” had another question for
Babken Ararktsyan: if the other lands become a matter of discussion,
since today it is all about Meghri and Lachin(according to him), is it
possible that the authorities accept that variant in order to avoid
bigger losses? Mr. Ararktsyan replied: “We can not say for sure until
those proposals are not laid out on the table. But if that becomes one
way of solving the issue, which will be more or less acceptable, then
of course we will state our opinions on that.” During the interview
with Babken Ararktsyan, “168 hours” touched upon the active role that
the former Armenian authorities have been playing recently. To this,
Mr. Ararktsyan said: “I don’t consider Levon Ter-Petrosyan out of the
political arena-not today, not ever. State politics is something else.
I am certain that during these crucial times, especially with the
turning of events of the Karabagh peace settlement, he can not remain
indifferent. He has never been left behind in big politics. We
shouldn’t look at the fact that Mr. Ter-Petrosyan went to the opening
of Clinton’s library opening in November from a negative side. Yes, the
authorities are becoming more active. The Armenian National Movement’s
conference will be held soon and obviously the political party is
getting activated before the conference. Don’t worry about that now…”
One of the journalists of “168 hours” stated that the former
authorities had promised to carry out certain actions. Babken
Ararktsyan commented on this also: “Isn’t the conference an action,
isn’t the National Assembly a way of carrying out actions? You only
look at an action as a meeting, a march, etc.” One of the reporters of
BBC made an observation and asked why the former authorities were
complaining about the secret negotiations going on when only six of
them knew about that in 1997? “That’s not right. Please take the time
and read the article written by Levon Ter-Petrosyan. In the article he
states that only six people were informed about all the details of what
was going on. That is what it’s all about and not about being informed
or not. These are two different things. The contents of those proposals
were clear for everyone.” During the interview with Babken Ararktsyan,
“168 hours” touched upon the active role that the former Armenian
authorities have been playing recently. Wasn’t 1997 a year of mixups
that made then president Levon Ter-Petrosyan resign from office? In
response to this, Mr. Ararktsyan said: “The mixup is that any step
taken leads us to defeat. It was not like that in 1997. Unfortunately,
today I see that each step we take may be fatal for us and times have
changed since 1997. The modern day Armenian authorities have only one
thing on their minds: to keep the situation as it is and not to come up
with a solution.”