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Friday 16 November 2007

Levon Ter-Petrosyan: "Sorry!"

“Seeing the latest steps by Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian, I am increasingly convinced that I need to repent and ask for absolution,” he told about 20,000 people who gathered in the city’s Liberty Square. “Therefore, I belatedly but sincerely apologize to you for bringing Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian to Armenia and foisting them upon you.”

“If I made mistakes in my staffing policy - and I really did - this is the biggest one. In fact, this is not a mistake but a disaster which I inflicted on our people. So help me rid you of that disaster,” he added, drawing cheers from the crowd.

[…] “I do realize that my lengthy explanations will not dispel many people’s doubts. So I am left to solicit the forgiveness of the people for the suffering inflicted on them for the sake of Artsakh’s [Karabakh] salvation,” declared Ter-Petrosyan.

Full report by Radio Liberty - here

*video via A1+



I am reading now Levon's speech in full (original Armenian version). My full reflections - in coming days. My initial impression is that the speech, as Radio Liberty rightly put it and I wrote in this blog a number of times (here, here, and here), "contained a long-awaited critical analysis of his track record in government". People may agree or disagree with what he said. But importantly, for the first time, he faced up his past in public and, overall, delivered expectations of the rally. His speech contained other important statements too which may be crucial in shaping up further developments in pre-election Armenia. Once more Levon proved that he is the one who is setting the 'theme' for the election campaign.

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