Opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian will visit the United States for medical treatment in a U.S. clinic, his Armenian National Congress (HAK) party announced on Friday.
In a statement, the HAK said Ter-Petrosian visited the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan and met with Ambassador Richard Mills “in connection with” the trip. It said the two men discussed “events taking place in Armenia and the region.”
The statement gave no other details of the conversation. Nor did reveal the medical condition for which Ter-Petrosian will undergo treatment.
Ter-Petrosian, who will turn 71 on Saturday, served as independent Armenia’s first president from 1991 to 1998. He set up the HAK in 2008 after contesting a hotly disputed presidential election as the main opposition candidate. The HAK has since been one of the country’s leading opposition forces.
Ter-Petrosian has been a bitter critic of President Serzh Sarkisian throughout the latter’s rule. Like other opposition groups, he strongly opposed Sarkisian’s controversial constitutional changes enacted in a December 6 referendum. However, the charismatic ex-president stopped short of addressing or attending rallies organized by the HAK in the run-up to the disputed vote.