Conscious Provocation Aimed at Crushing the Church Through the Mob: Levon Ter-Petrosyan

The First President of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, writes:

“Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has come up with a new brilliant idea: to organize a powerful rally in the Vagarshapat square, right next to the Mother See. What is this, if not a conscious provocation aimed at crushing the Church through the mob? Is he not aware that the followers of the Church are far more numerous than his supporters? Of course, he is aware, but his goal is to crush that force—perhaps to earn a reputation akin to Nero's.”

Pashinyan's move is striking and dangerous, especially from another perspective. The primary challenge of any government is to ensure the internal stability of the country and the security of its people. Yet all the actions of the Armenian government seem directed at violating that stability and creating chaos in the country.

The only way to counter external threats is to ensure internal stability. If that is achieved, the threats posed by external factors will significantly diminish, and conflicting parties will find an opportunity to engage in constructive bilateral negotiations. For this, they must immediately cease the abusive statements and threats directed at each other and, in the interest of the Fatherland, strive to reach agreements even on the most painful issues.

Ensuring the internal political stability of a country is the main issue of any state, as its opposite is chaos. Disturbances are usually incited by opposition political forces, whereas, in Armenia, the opposite is happening. Suffering from a syndrome of grandeur, Pashinyan typically inflames the situation himself.

In my opinion, canceling the planned rally in Vagarshapat and releasing political prisoners, especially Bagrat and Mikael the Holy and Samvel Karapetyan, would greatly contribute to either the elimination or mild alleviation of the confrontation between opposing forces. Today, this is the only way to ease the political tension in Armenia. I am confident that this action will not only not harm Pashinyan's reputation but will be appreciated by the entire Armenian community as a deed befitting a statesman. Moreover, it will have a positive impact in terms of negotiating with external powers from a position of greater confidence.

It is also evident that as Armenia's internal political situation becomes more complicated, our positions in foreign relations weaken.”