On Saturday the chairman of the Dashink party, Samvel Babayan also joined the anti-campaign against the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan. During the Dashink party congress in the session hall of the government Babayan threatened presenting concrete facts about all the crimes, which were perpetrated during Ter-Petrosyan’s presidency. Prior to speaking about this it’s noteworthy to say that during Saturday’s congress the Dashink party made a decision to dissolve and join the Ramkavar Azatakan party. Albert Bazeyan with his National Revival party is also going to do the same however slightly later. The Head of the party expressed belief that “Dashink” can achieve the intended success “only due to coordinated mutual cooperation”. At the same time, he didn’t conceal his disappointment with the current negotiations and introduced the diagnosis of the pro-Opposition camp. “There were only a couple of activists that were able to soberly assess the situation, make a pragmatically clear political calculation and behave in a decent manner. Unfortunately, their efforts were not enough for restraining the political pretensions of the others at least a little. Self-satisfaction: this is the main disease our political arena is suffering from. The result recorded by the Opposition is both regrettable and equally natural. Then, having got into a mess because of their own personal pretensions, those figures made a little fuss, complaining about their lives, and then they went home with clear conscience, having assumed the posture of someone who has accomplished his task.” When speaking of the circulated rumors that Babayan has met the Prime Minister of RA Serzh Sargsyan Babayan said that for important state issues he meets with even the President of the country as well as oppositional leaders. Moreover, as Babayan mentioned even his party members are aware of those meetings. He told them that during those meetings he tries to find out “the approaches of potential presidential candidates about the political field and the future of the country. That way he would be able to be informed about the attitudes of the candidates, which will help him to orient who to support during the elections. To the question how would Babayan react if Levon Ter-Petrosyan made an initiative to meet him the latter said that there are so many contradictions between him and Ter-Petrosyan about Karabakh conflict resolution that such a meeting will probably never take place. Shortly said Babayan doesn’t wish to become a “traitor of ideology.” He emphasized that the winner at the February 19, 2008 presidential election in Armenia will only hold negotiations, and it is only for the Armenian people to make a decision. In this connection, he stressed that one cannot speak of Dashink’s possible support to the candidacy of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the first president of Armenia, yet. "Having returned to politics, L.Ter-Petrosyan said that his approaches to the conflict settlement have not changed since 1997. These approaches are unacceptable for us. In this case, to stand beside him would mean to betray one’s ideals. And if he changes his approaches to the settlement, one may discuss possible cooperation with him," S.Babayan said. To the question whether there is possibility that their union may support Serzh Sargsyan’s candidacy Babayan answered, “Anyone, who’s platform will match ours and if our congress decides we will be willing to support. This will be decided by the congress in January (let’s remember that the Dashink, Ramkavar and National Revival congress will take place, aimed at uniting in the union – L.S.). Samvel Babayan is not a dictator to decide on his own who to support. The congress will decide who we are going to support,” he ensured. Babayan, however, didn’t even know the attitude of the incumbent government about NKR conflict resolution and whether it matches with the Dashink platform. “I cannot say what they are negotiating about. They haven’t come to any agreement with Azerbaijan. There is no treaty,” mentioned Babayan and requested the presidential candidates not to benefit from the NKR conflict during the campaign because he believes that regardless of who the President is elected he won’t be able to resolve the conflict on his own and even with five or ten people because only the whole nation can solve it. “The victory was achieved nationally and the conflict will be resolved nationally,” said the former NKR defense minister. Babayan stated that it is not correct to rephrase the first president’s statements. The reporters asked him about Ter-Petrosyan’s statement that Serge Sargsyan had been expulsed to Moscow in 1993. The reporters said the media even reported that Serge Sargsyan had been expulsed after controversies with Samvel Babayan. In other words, the commander of the Karabakh force then Samvel Babayan had expulsed him. Samvel Babayan said it is not true. He said soon he will present in facts what had happened in reality and why Serge Sargsyan had been seconded to Moscow. He says it was connected with the crime committed by the politicians and the political government of Armenia then, namely prevention of the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh. He promised to enumerate the names of people, the instructions they gave, the participants, the airports, Serge Sargsyan’s role, what he sent, what he did, what ammunition was sent, who prevented the transportation of ammunition. “As to Serge Sargsyan’s absence of one year, Serge Sargsyan was absent from Karabakh for three months, from the end of May till August. Besides, Serge Sargsyan put his signature to the map of operation of Lachin-Kelbadjat, and Samvel Babayan, NKR minister of defense then, signed it. There are facts, it is not only statements. They present Samvel Babayan as a monster to settle their scores. If they have scores to settle, they should not involve Samvel Babayan,” Samvel Babayan says. According to him, earlier he had been said to have expulsed Commandos, Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan. “The same person meets me now, thanks me for saving him in that state of panic. Meanwhile, the Armenian people believe, the same forces stated that Samvel Babayan had expulsed him. This won’t do. I don’t want to tell the story, the reality to the society because the society will feel disappointed,” Samvel Babayan says adding that his silence for so many years is related to this. There was also a question whether the union of the Dashink, Ramkavar Azatakan, National Revival party will also join the petition of the first president about getting rid of the current “gangster state”. Babayan said that this question is closed for them because Ter-Petrosyan’s criticism was addressed to concrete people and names were mentioned, which didn’t include his. “As much as I know Ter-Petrosyan has mentioned names and we were not in the list. It means this doesn’t concern us. When he addresses us we will think about it,” said Babayan.
