Armenia`s first president marks 80th birthday anniversary 

ArmInfo.The first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan celebrates his 80th birthday.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan - Doctor of Philology, the first president of the Republic of Armenia, was born on January 9, 1945 in the Syrian city of Aleppo. In 1946, as a child, he immigrated to Armenia with his family, settling first in Kirovakan, and since 1947 - in Yerevan.

On October 16, 1991, he was elected president of the Republic of Armenia by an overwhelming majority of votes (83.4%).

On September 22, 1996, as a result of disputed presidential  elections, but recognized as legitimate by international observation missions, he was re-elected as president of the Republic of Armenia, gaining 51.75% of the vote.

On February 3, 1998, due to fundamental disagreements with Prime Minister Robert Kocharyan, Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsyan and Minister of National Security and Internal Affairs Serzh Sargsyan, and in order to keep the country free from internal political upheavals, he resigned from the post of president.

For the same reasons, many other leaders and responsible officials of the republic voluntarily left their posts.

In the fall of 2007, a number of political forces and public  organizations nominated Ter-Petrosyan as a candidate for the post of President of the Republic of Armenia. In the elections held on February 19, 2008, according to official data, he received 21.51% of the votes, while his main competitor Serzh Sargsyan received 52.82%.

On May 6, 2012, in the elections to the National Assembly,  Ter-Petrosyan, heading the list of the Armenian National Congress bloc, was elected as a deputy of the National Assembly, but refused the mandate. On April 13, 2013, he was elected chairman of the Armenian National Congress party - the successor of the Armenian National Movement.

The first president of the Republic of Armenia is fluent in Armenian and Russian, and has a sufficient level of knowledge of French, English, German, Arabic, Assyrian, Aramaic, Ancient Greek, Latin and Hebrew.  He is the author of more than 30 books and about 80 scientific articles.