Ter-Petrosyan about the dialogue; March 1 2008

  Details from the unpublished interview

 After May 31 rally, when the Armenian National Congress leader Levon Ter-Petrossian stated about the readiness to have a dialogue with the government, there was much criticism that substantial change has taken place in his slogans and emphases. Yet as a journalist who was present at the press conference that took place in Levon Ter-Petrossian’s residence after the March 1 morning 2008 rally in the Freedom Square, I can witness that he did not deny the possibility of a dialogue even on that very day. Maybe it is not necessary to remind in what conditions that press conference took place, when some armed people were on duty outside who did not allow nobody and even journalists to enter the residence for quite a long time. Thus, during that press conference that we were not able to broadcast, since a state of emergency was declared late that night that lasted 20 days, “Aravot” addressed the following questions, the answers to which we quote according to the preserved recording.

–          My question might sound premature, but in the past few days many figures and organizations have offered their services as a mediator to prevent the enmity, they also offered an agenda for negotiations. After what happened, do you rule out the possibility of a dialogue?

–          I was prepared to speak of that subject at today’s rally. If you have been attentive, I have been presenting a new subject from a conceptual point of view to our people every day for the past three days. Today, my subject is those rumors about those mediations or negotiations between the government and the opposition. Since it was impossible to say there, I will read that lecture, that speech to you now.

Thus, as follows; rumors like that have been spread by the milieu of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan for a week now firstly on the street level, on the mob level that they are in the process of seriously negotiating with me. They said the same thing to some ambassadors of the European Union, and those ambassadors asked me to confirm or deny that thing. And I even denied it once at a rally; I said, there was no such thing, there were rumors from everywhere, but I had not received any offer to negotiate from Robert Kocharyan. It does not mean that if I had received I would have accepted. Or if I accept, on what conditions do I speak? As an obvious condition, it is obvious, in the case of any decision, if I had agreed to negotiate I would have done that on one condition that all the political prisoners should have been released. This was my only condition. The other things were a subject of negotiations, all the other issues. I cannot negotiate with a man that has arrested my friends today. That is all. However, there was no such thing. Any official offer neither to me, nor to any of my friends has been made. They spread other rumors as if they did not succeed with me, but there were some separate relations with the friends surrounding me, with the well-known people from my staff and some of them had already agreed to take offices in Serzh Sargsyan’s administration. I say this was done to discredit us in the eyes of the people and to extinguish the people’s tide, this kind of rumors should have wear it out, discredit it. I.e. we would have been sorted as Artur Baghdasaryans. However, the sad thing is that they said the same thing to the foreign colleagues, diplomats. Moreover, the day before yesterday, Putin had a conversation over the phone with Robert Kocharyan. And Kocharyan said two things that the violence was ruled out, there would be no violence, Putin on the other hand warned that the violence was unacceptable. And Robert Kocharyan told president of Russia Vladimir Putin, I am in a process of serious negotiations with Levon Ter-Petrossian… The president of the RA can say things like this, not even being ashamed or scared that the lie will be uncovered.

–          Now is it over, is any dialogue impossible?

–          I do not know. That is not the way it is in politics. A new situation will occur, a new demand. Politics is an art of compromise.

P.S. Pay attention to the saying about the EU ambassadors’ involvement in the future dialogue between the government and the opposition. Taking into account the precedent one cannot rule out that the ambassadors have conducted mediator’s mission now too.