The first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan sees the need for a phased settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, and namely - to return the occupied Azerbaijani territories and open the borders to restore the economic relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. "Without solving this problem, Armenia and Karabakh are deprived of any security perspective, development and prosperity. 18 years is a considerable period in order to understand it. If we miss this moment, the next decision will be even worse for us," Ter-Petrosyan said.
Speaking at the congress of the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) on December 17, the former president urged the ANC to run in the parliamentary elections in 2017 under the slogan 'Peace, reconciliation and good neighborly relations' and criticized the 'nation-army' idea, calling it a failure, ill-conceived and dangerous. According to Ter-Petrosyan, the 'nation-army' idea is aimed at maintaining the status quo, just served in a different package.
In his speech, Ter-Petrosyan called the Azerbaijani leader "a rational statesman, capable of proportionate steps to advance peace."
The main objective of the first Armenian President's address at Saturday's congress of the ANC was to raise hopes among people of peace in the Karabakh conflict zone, the head of the Department of Political Studies of the Institute of Caucasus, Sergey Minasyan, believes.
The address provoked a lively reaction from the Armenian media. The Hraparak newspaper reports: "Those who listened to Levon Ter-Petrosyan's speech, without preparing themselves to it, of course, experienced conflicting emotions. It is impossible not to agree with the conclusions emanating from his philosophy: if you concede a part - you will keep the other part, if you concede nothing - you will lose everything; those who retain a part are declared traitors, and those who have lost everything are called patriots. But at the same time one can not oppose him: don't you have the same understanding in the years when the power belonged to you, and you can lead our country in another way? And if the problem was the resistance of your team members, as you say, then how much this reduces your guilt? And why don't you disclose all of the brackets? "
The Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper continues to develop the topic: "It is necessary for our economy to develop and grow to become a "nation-army". Whether is it possible? Huge foreign investments have been made in Israel, which occasionally lives in conditions of full-scale wars, and they continue to make them. This country has become one of the world's technology centers. Would it be possible for Armenia, which lives in a much more peaceful environment, to attract investment as well? Perhaps. But this possibility seems very theoretical. In other words, today, we are facing two theoretical visions: either we choose the way proposed by Levon Ter-Petrosyan, ie, solve the Karabakh problem by a phased option, or choose a way to ensure the jump in the development of the country and its economy and get the opportunity to have an ultramodern, powerful army and military infrastructure. Unfortunately, both of these options are very theoretical. Perhaps, there is another very theoretical option, but no one has said anything about it yet."
