Ilur.am published a two-part article by the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan about the political situation in Armenia and regarding Artsakh. We republish it without editing.

Part 1.

There is no need to prove that the policy of rejecting compromises and maintaining the status quo led to a national catastrophe, which even some of the former supporters of that policy admit after the catastrophe.

However, to justify themselves, many are trying to prove that the same thing would have happened if they had chosen the path of compromise. This is nothing but a miserable attempt at self-justification, unproven, because history does not like "ifs". History records what has already been accomplished. Therefore, no matter how much the opponents of the compromise solution to the Karabakh conflict (statesmen, party leaders, intellectuals) try to justify their genocidal actions, sooner or later they will face the judgment of history, which no one has avoided yet. It is the realization of such a fate that still drives them to justify their catastrophic behavior, which, unfortunately, deepens the current crisis in Armenia and Karabakh.

Part 2.

This refers to the current internal political confrontation, which, in my opinion, does not strengthen, but weakens Armenia's position in the forthcoming difficult negotiations. Therefore, it is unclear what the main goal of today's opposition is. Serzh Sargsyan, with the swipe of his hand has labeled Nikol Pashinyan a capitulant, which is accurate, but half-true. In fact, it was not Pashinyan who capitulated, but Armenia. Pashinyan just signed the act of capitulation of Armenia.

Therefore, whoever replaces Pashinyan, Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan or even Ishkhan Saghatelyan, they will obediently accept the solution that will be wrapped around Armenia's neck. Accordingly, the problem does not depend on the person of the Armenian leader. If this simple truth is not understood, and the internal political upheavals of our country continue, the solutions imposed on us will be much more painful, regardless of Pashinyan or someone else signing the final document.

The question is, do the current opposition leaders not realize this? If they do not realize it, it means that they do not understand anything about politics. And if they comprehend this, but continue the internal political upheavals, it follows that they pursue completely different goals, which have absolutely nothing to do with national interests. Neither do harsh steps of the current authorities towards the demonstrations, marches and rallies organized by the opposition have anything to do with national interests.

Being hopelessly optimistic, I still expect that the conflicting parties will finally understand the danger of their positions, will make efforts to reach some agreement, in order not to complicate the situation further, to avoid new dangers.

If our intellectuals really want to do patriotic work, let them force Nikol Pashinyan, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan to sit at the same table and find a way out of the internal political crisis. By the way, I made such an appeal before the current crisis, this year, on January 15.