Ter-Petrosyan: "I Have Never Hidden the Truth"

19 SEP 2025 16:35

The desire to maintain the status quo is based on the philosophy that the international community will sooner or later come to terms with the fait accompli and eventually recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh. Theoretically, this is a correct philosophy, especially with several practical precedents justified by history. The first President of the RA, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, wrote about this on his Facebook page.

The status quo is not a map, not a ceasefire line, but a stable balance of power. Viewing the issue from this perspective, one must sadly record that we are in a rather worrying, if not desolate, situation. If ten years ago Armenia and Azerbaijan were more or less comparable forces in terms of their human, economic, and military resources, today, by the same standards, a huge gap has emerged between them, which tends to deepen.

What, then, is defeatism: keeping the people in ignorance and dulling their vigilance, only to wake up one day and see that Karabakh is gone, or revealing the truth and sounding the alarm, trying to consolidate the nation's forces to prevent that impending danger?

Having the greatest respect for our people, I have always relied not on their emotions, but on their reason. I have never hidden the truth from them, no matter how bitter it may be. I have never made false promises or engaged in demagoguery or populism. And I am not going to betray those principles in the future either. Let that be seen as an unprofitable political behavior. Let it affect my rating. I am what I am and will be. I was like that in 1988 as well, and you understood and trusted me and my friends from the 'Karabakh Committee,' the result of which is an independent Armenia and a liberated Artsakh.