Question: Please compare the events of March 1st and the 1996 events. Levon Ter-Petrosian: What happened on March 1 was unprecedented in these 20 years of Armenia’s independence. On 26 September 1996 Vazgen Manukian held a rally in this square and led people to the National Assembly’s building on Baghramian Street, saying: “if I enter the Central Election Commission which is in this building and do not leave it in 20 minutes, you must follow me” and 20 minutes later those present, some 5 thousand people, started to climb the NA lattice fence. At that time the law enforcers and I were in the presidential room and the responsibility for security measures of that day lay with the national security minister Serzhik Sargsyan. Even my personal security service was under his command. Vano Siradeghian, Vazgen Sargsyan, and Roma? Ghazarian had no authority in this issue and were subordinate to Serzhik Sargsyan. At the moment when people climbed over the fence and burst in?to the NA building, Serzh Sargsyan approached me in my office and said: “Boss, we must shoot”. I said: “That is impossible, let’s wait”. But when it became known that the intruders had kidnapped and lynched the NA speaker and the vice speaker, Serzh Sargsyan said again that it is necessary to shoot. I thought for a moment and said “only in the air”. They fired in the air and ten minutes later the crowd started to break up. No one received gunshot wounds on that day. Those who compare those events with the March 1 events are lawyers for these authorities. Question: What is Levon Ter-Petrosian’s opinion about the activities of the Armenian Apostolic Church in recent period? Does he believe that the church is in need of reforms? Levon Ter-Petrosian: Church should be separated from state, and the secret of Western development is that church was separated from state. This is a question of principle to me. Today too the most ideal situation is when church is completely separated from state. Unfortunately, the situation is a bit different today. I was a person connected with the church, I taught at the seminary for six years, the current Catholicos was my partner, and we worked together in the editorial office of Etchmiadzin magazine. This is subject dear to me. However, if the church is need of reforms, that’s nobody’s business, that is only the church’s business to decide if it is need of reforms or not. No person or organization should interfere in this affair of the church. Question: If the dialog failed, what is the use of continuing it? Levon Ter-Petrosian: We knew from the first that if the Congress was not a force or political factor, the authorities would not reckon with it. This is true for any negotiation, and if you are nothing, no one will reckon with you. If the people do not support us and there is no pressure of the people, no one – neither Serzh Sargsyan, nor Raffi Hovannisian, or say, Vartan Oskanian, will reckon with us. We are a factor only thanks to the people. We are nothing without you. Question: During your presidency, there were political prisoners (the ARFD) in the country, were not they? Levon Ter-Petrosian: I have replied to this question a hundred times. By saying “ARFD figures”, you mean ‘the Dro case” disclosed in December 1994 and “the case of 31” disclosed in July 1995. A drug trafficking case was disclosed: information was received that drugs were smuggled from Beirut to Yerevan and we together with Russian security forces managed to detect that case: after searches, it turned out that it was a terrorist group, we did not know who it was, and later we learned that they were members of the ARFD. If the persons convicted in connection with “the Dro case” are political prisoners, why do they remain in prison? They were in prison for three years during my presidency, whereas under Kocharian, Serzh Sargsyan and the ARFD they remained in prison for 14 years. If they were political prisoners, then they are political prisoners today too. If they were unfairly sentenced, why were they not released? And another fact: “the Dro case” was disclosed and investigated from start to finish by the then security and interior minister Serzh Sargsyan. Question: What are the ideas of the Congress about the Javakhk issue? Levon Ter-Petrosian: There are social and educational problems in Javakhk, people make normal civil demands concerning them, and they need to be solved. I am sure that Georgia is a country following a more progressive road than we do and so these problems will be solved. The situation was more difficult in the 1990 when Georgia was in chaos. Yet at that time the seriousness of the situation was not a result of ethnic discrimination, but the whole Georgia had a hard time. To credit of all the authorities in Armenia and Georgia, all the presidents took a correct attitude to this issue and did not allow social and civil discontent to grow into a political problem. I believe that we are fraternal nations. We have lived side by side for three thousand years and there has been no war, except in 1920 when extremist nationalist regimes formed in two countries and a war broke out. I hope that the Georgian soldier will never set foot on the Armenian land, and the Armenian soldier will never set foot on the Georgian land. Question: Why doesn’t Ter-Petrsoaion speak about the mistakes he made during his presidency, in particular, about the closure of the nuclear power plant and the personnel policy? Levon Ter-Petrosian: “The accusation of the nuclear power plant closure is a lie because in January 1989 when the plant was closed, we – the members of the Karabakh Committee were in a Moscow prison. The plant was closed by a decision of the highest instances of the USSR; Chairman of the Council of Ministers Ryzhkov came to Armenia. At that time First Secretary of the Central Committee was Suren Harutyunian, and Chairman of Armenia’s Council of Ministers was Fadey Sargsyan, the decision to close the nuclear power plant was taken by those three persons. If Armenia exists today, it is the result of the reforms implemented in the early 1990s. Question: How will Ter-Petrosian fight corruption and monopolies? Levon Ter-Petrosian: Remove those 76 deputy entrepreneurs from the parliament and this will be a great accomplishment in the fight against corruption. I do not envy the next authorities that will try to eliminate this systematic corruption as it is a vicious system and it will take time to fight corruption. Yet, a correct personnel policy will help reduce this phenomenon by 50%. The presence of free opposition, free press and free television in the country is also important in order to overcome corruption. Give us television, and 90% of these criminals will be sent to prison within two days. Today’s television is the main front and outpost of corruption’s defense. To fight corruption, it is necessary to have an independent parliament that should be a competitor of the executive structure, its “watchdog”. The presence of an independent judicial system is also important. Question: What is the most serious mistake you made in your life? Levon Ter-Petrosian: Damn the day when I entered politics. I enjoy pursuing science and listening to music. But there comes a moment when you must stop being selfish and start to advance public interests.

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