Levon Ter-Petrosyan calls for consolidation around authorities in these hours of trouble for Armenian people

 The fact that the truce between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been reached through the mediation of Russia demonstrates that it is able to prevent large-scale violations of the ceasefire, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the first president of Armenia, says in an interview with ilur.am. As a result, he says, Russia's role in the Karabakh conflict settlement process will grow.     

When speaking of the peace talks, Ter-Petrosyan points out that the agenda includes a document that has actually been agreed by the conflicting parties and is based on the Madrid Principles.  The document includes provisions about both cession of territories and deployment of peacekeepers. The first president of Armenia says that the Madrid principles and the program of comprehensive settlement based on these principles have repeatedly been affirmed by the joint statements of the OSCE MG co-chair countries' presidents and that the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents have given their consent to it. "The Madrid principles were 'adopted' by Robert Kocharyan and the political parties being an integral part of the second president's regime supported him. Kocharyan deprived Nagorno-Karabakh of the status of internationally recognized equal party to the conflict. It was also Kocharyan that agreed with the Turkish side to set up an Armenian-Turkish commission of historians to investigate the facts of history. So, Serzh Sargsyan has inherited all this from Kocharyan and the share of his fault is not big", Ter-Petrosyan says, adding that he is giving no assessments but just stating the facts.

The first president of Armenia thinks that the Armenian side should have a strict but constructive stand on the Karabakh conflict settlement and it should do everything possible to get the most desirable result from the process. He also stresses that the opposition forces and the society should 'freeze' the domestic conflicts and initiate national consolidation. "It is not the time for blaming the authorities and demanding answers.  The war will shortly be moved from the battlefield to the diplomatic arena or to the front of complicated negotiations. Due to their posts, the commanders-in-chief on the Armenian side will be Serzh Sargsyan and Bako Sahakyan. Even if the latter is not directly involved in the talks, Sargsyan cannot help taking his opinion into consideration," Ter-Petrosyan says, noting that he is going to meet with Bako Sahakyan as well. 
He notes that during the negotiations Sargsyan should feel strong, enjoying his people's support. "However, it is during this period that Sargsyan's regime should make some positive steps, turn its face towards the people, launch a real fight against corruption and outrage in the law-enforcement bodies, as well as against monopolies, electoral fraud, and arrogance of officials," he says. 

Ter-Petrosyan says that the authorities-society relations should be based on mutual confidence and support.  "One cannot ignore the people and the opposition in the trouble-free time and expect their support in the hours of trouble," he says.