Opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian does not consider a meeting with President Serzh Sarkisian to be necessary any longer, one of his aides has told media.
Arman Musinian, a spokesperson for the Ter-Petrosian-led Armenian National Congress (HAK) party, said the former president was “fully satisfied” with Sarkisian’s reply to his open letter that concerned some of the aspects of a “pan-Armenian declaration” adopted ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
In a response open letter published on Friday Sarkisian said he was ready to accept Ter-Petrosian’s offer for a meeting around the Declaration, but at the same time he categorically rejected the ex-president’s claims that the document adopted by a commission headed by him and comprising other senior Armenian state officials, the top clerics of the Armenian Apostolic Church and Diaspora leaders contradicts the Constitution of Armenia and international legal documents.
In his February 11 article Ter-Petrosian, in particular, voiced criticism over a Declaration clause committing official Yerevan to laying claim to vast swathes of land in eastern Turkey that were populated by Armenians until the Genocide. The ex-president specifically pointed to the passage which says that Armenia and its worldwide Diaspora will strive to not only get more countries to condemn the slaughter of 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians but also “overcome consequences of the genocide.” In that context, it refers to the 1920 Treaty of Sevres that envisaged Armenian control over much of what is now eastern Turkey.
“Sarkisian thinks that the Declaration is a wonderful document and that it reflects the will of all Armenians. Meanwhile, Ter-Petrosian thinks that the Declaration is a document fraught with dangers for Armenia and Karabakh and that it cannot express the will of all Armenians unless it is adopted through a referendum. It is for the public and generations to judge about all the rest,” Musinian said.
“Since this is a public debate, Ter-Petrosian no longer sees a need for a private discussion,” the spokesperson concluded.