Levon Ter-Petrosyan: Serzh Sargsyan must enjoy people’s support during negotiations

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Serzh Sargsyan must feel dominant during negotiations enjoying people’s support. First President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan expressed such a conviction in an interview with ilur.am, referring to the question what stance Armenia should embrace during negotiations.

“Naturally, the Armenian side must gain maximal possible through tough but constructive negotiations. As refers to the role of opposition and the public, it must be nothing but temporary freezing of domestic disagreements and national consolidation. Now it is not the proper time to blame the authorities or demand explanations for their mistakes. War will soon enter the phase of diplomacy or complicated negotiations from the battlefield. Due to position their positions our commanders in that war will be Serzh Sargsyan and Bako Sahakyan. Even if Sahakyan does not directly participate in the negotiations, Serzh Sargsyan cannot ignore his position in any case (by the way, I have an arrangement to meet with Sahakyan as well). Serzh Sargsyan must feel dominant round the negotiation table, enjoying his people’s support, his administration is obliged to make some positive steps, address the needs of the people carrying a real struggle against corruption, arbitrariness of law enforcement bodies, monopolies, electoral frauds, and haughtiness of state officials. The relations between the authorities and the public must be built based not on unilateral attitude, but mutual trust and support. It is not right to ignore the people and opposition during good times, but expect their support during bad times”, Ter-Petrosyan said.

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan met with the First President of the Republic Levon Ter-Petrosyan on April 9. The meeting was initiated by Levon Ter-Petrosyan. The conversation, which lasted over an hour, was dedicated exclusively to the recent events at the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijani line of contact, upcoming developments in the peace negotiations, and to the necessity to unite internally in the face of these challenges. The meeting took place at L. Ter-Petrosyan’s residence.