The first president held meetings with the residents of Kartchaghbyur, Vardenik and Yeranos villages. In Vardenis and Martuni villages he held rallies, which hosted thousands of people. Just like in past tours Ter-Petrosyan had several unplanned stops in such villages as Litchk, Tsovak, Lusakunk, Tsovinar. The residents of the mentioned villages would just block the movement of the president’s cars and demand a meeting with him. They all pledged the first president that they will vote for him on February 19. They also promised that they will make sure that no one steals their votes. In Litchk and Kartchaghbyur sheep were slaughtered to honor Ter-Petrosyan. According to the meeting initiators residents had been subjected to pressure and threatened to abstain from the meeting otherwise “they would be dismissed.” The village head of Tsovak had even tried to break down residents’ resistance and snatch Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s posters. However the meetings took place anyway. For example in Vardenik village, where only a short rally was planned, the majority of the villagers gathered in the center (nearly 1000 people) and the planned short stop turned into a major rally. Similar situation was created in Yeranos village. And in the rally held in Vardenis town about 2.5-3 thousand people were present. As usual, Ter-Petrosyan’s adherents highlighted the relevance of the October 27 events. They said “Serzh Sargsyan had better feel ashamed of his misdeeds and stay indoors. How he dared to run for presidency!” However, judging by the replicas of the rally participants it becomes clear that people are most mad about the behavior of Artashes Geghamyan. The residents of Vardenis town have said so many negative things about Geghamyan that the Secretary of the PPA Grigor Harutyunyan had to respond to that. By mentioning that the governments have always used Geghamyan for their own goals Harutyunyan mentioned, “The day before yesterday he (Geghamyan) tried to stain the memory of the late Sparapet (military leader).” After this statement the people have started to exclaim, “Shame, shame!” And Harutyunyan reminded, “when in 2003 Geghamyan betrayed the opposition in 2004 we said that he is a good man. Maybe he was mistaken once. The person should have the right to correct his mistake. We let him stand next to us in the opposition rally in Matenadaran in 2004, to raise the hand of Stepan Demirchyan and Aram Sargsyan.” “But we were wrong. The once used person will always be used,” mentioned the PPA secretary. After that the leader of the Republic Party Aram Sargsyan made a speech. The latter was angry with the fact that during the campaign ads of Serzh Sargsyan they show the picture of Vazgen Sargsyan from time to time. By reminding that they also have some films where late Andranik Margaryan was demanding the resignation of Serzh Sargsyan, Aram Sargsyan said, “Shall we show these scenes as well?” Ter-Petrosyan on his part has spoken about the last statement of Kocharyan, who said that Ter-Petrosyan is planning to establish “sister-to-sister” relations with Azerbaijan. “If Kocharyan considers normal diplomatic relations as sister-to-sister relations then it is the result of his politeness and intellect and nothing else. Yes, I am stating that the land which has been Armenian for 3,000 years will remain Armenian for another 3,000,” he said, referring to Karabakh. “That achievement has to be formalized by an international treaty, after which we will cooperate and establish good-neighborly relations with Azerbaijan. “Because our main conduit to the outside world is Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani railway used to handle 85 percent of Armenia’s external cargo turnover.” Ter-Petrosyan was forced to step down ten years ago by his key cabinet members, including then Prime Minister Kocharyan, for advocating a phased settlement of the conflict with Azerbaijan that would indefinitely delay agreement on Karabakh’s status. Kocharyan and his allies stood for a so-called package peace deal that would formalize Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan and settle all sticking points at once. The Kocharyan administration now appears to have agreed, in principle, to international mediators’ most recent peace plan which is very similar to the one advocated by Ter-Petrosyan in 1997 and 1998.
