I Consider Nikol Pashinyan a Greater Evil than the Threats from Turkey and Azerbaijan: Ter-Petrosyan

The first President of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, is confident that a day will come when normal relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan will be established. Ter-Petrosyan expressed this opinion during a press conference today, adding that even his family cannot establish such relations with the acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

“Nikol is a local threat to our nation. I consider Nikol Pashinyan a greater evil than the threats coming from Turkey and Azerbaijan. Yes, a day will come when we will have amicable relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, as it is not only in Armenia's interest, but it is also beneficial for Russia and the whole world that peace prevails,” said the first president.

However, according to him, this can only happen if we have a normal government, which is unrealistic under both the presidency of the third President Serzh Sargsyan and the third President Robert Kocharian.

According to Ter-Petrosyan, Kocharian is a crisis manager who first creates crises and then begins to manage them.

The first president also addressed the issue concerning claims from Kocharian's camp that Nagorno-Karabakh was pushed off the negotiation table during Ter-Petrosyan's presidency. The first president labeled such reports as manipulation. “I have had negotiations a million times without discussing Nagorno-Karabakh. Yes, when I met with Yeltsin, Shiraz, and senior Bush, I spoke about Artsakh. Shouldn't I have spoken? Kocharian also met Yeltsin, Shiraz, and others ten times without discussing Artsakh,” said Ter-Petrosyan.