Ter-Petrosyan Met With Serzh Sargsyan and Suggested Participating in Elections with the HHK-ANC Alliance

The first president of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, announced that he met with Serzh Sargsyan on May 1, but this proposal was rejected.

In a publication on ilur.am, the first president's statement is presented as follows:

“After Robert Kocharyan’s sharp rejection of my proposal, on May 1, I met with Serzh Sargsyan, suggesting that we participate in the elections with the HHK-ANC alliance and present a statement I wrote. Certainly, this format would not have the same effectiveness as the unrealized trilateral alliance. My second proposal also did not materialize because it was rejected by Sargsyan. Nevertheless, I consider it appropriate to present the text of that statement to the public.

**Statement by Former Presidents Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Serzh Sargsyan**

Considering:

• The urgent need to restore the mental balance of our people after the war,
• The imperative to quickly relieve the extremely tense internal political situation and to avoid further escalation of hate speech and clashes,
• The sickly ambition of the government, which has completely failed in all fields of state administration during its three-year activity, to be re-elected at any cost and its obvious destructive consequences,
• The goals of the coalition formed by the second president, driven more by purely revanchist motives than by the interests of the country,
• As well as the national expectation for the formation of a new government that meets the demands of the moment in Armenia, and for public reconciliation,

We declare that regardless of our previous principled disagreements and sharp conflicts, recognizing our responsibility for the fate of the country, personally not wishing to occupy any position in the newly forming system of power, we will participate in the upcoming elections with a list named ‘National Agreement Alliance’ formed by political forces supporting us, public organizations, and reputable intellectuals. We are confident that this initiative will receive a positive response from the entire Armenian nation and the international community.

We will hold a press conference after the official announcement of the start of the electoral process and the publication of the alliance's list.

We envision our future roles in the political life of the country exclusively as advisors appointed by the Prime Minister on a public basis in the fields of international relations and security,” Ter-Petrosyan said.