In an interview with Armenian Public Television, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the first President of Armenia, noted the necessity of normalizing Armenia's relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey. "Difficult, painful decisions await us that none of us will like. Agreements with Azerbaijan and Turkey must be signed. But there is a moment when there is no other way," Levon Ter-Petrosyan said.
According to him, if no document is signed, if reconciliation is not reached, Armenia will have to start state building again. He called it naive that the opposition hoped for the possibility of signing a peace agreement with more favorable conditions for Armenia after getting rid of Pashinyan.
Ter-Petrosyan believes that whoever comes to power today will have to sign a document with the same and possibly worse conditions. According to the former President of Armenia, today, only Pashinyan knows the details of the negotiation process and the information about what is required from Armenia. "Without knowing this information, we cannot say whether there is another, better solution to the issue," Ter-Petrosyan said. "Whatever the solution is, it will be bad for us. I see the only way out in this situation: to choose the one that is the least painful for us among all these bad solutions. And to understand this, we need to have information," he said. According to Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Pashinyan is also afraid to sign this document. "No matter what document he signs, they will criticize him, they will call him a traitor, a Turk," Ter-Petrosyan said.
"Yes, I also said: Armenia has capitulated," Ter-Petrosyan stated. The first President of Armenia noted the importance of national unity in the current situation. According to him, this requires putting aside differences of opinion, contradictions, and disputes at a fateful moment and dialogue between the government and the opposition. According to Levon Ter-Petrosyan, this issue has already been resolved. "It has already been resolved. Armenia no longer plays any role. It only participates in humanitarian aid, construction, and economic recovery," he said. In response to the question that the key to solving the problem is in Russia's hands, Ter-Petrosyan said: "Now Russia itself has so many problems that it has lost this key."
As previously reported by Caucasus Watch, Robert Kocharyan, the head of the opposition bloc "Armenia," stated that Armenia needs social consolidation - an indispensable condition without which nothing will work. Commenting on the recent call for socio-political consolidation by Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the first President of the republic, he added: "Usually, consolidation happens in the name of achieving high goals. However, now there are calls for unity to help make difficult decisions. Consolidation is provided to push the people to victory. There is no need for consolidation to capitulate. On the contrary, deconsolidation is necessary for surrender."
