Ex-president's sober reflection on absurdity of revanchist dreams "Grandpa" Ter-Petrosyan calls to face the truth

Is there anyone soberly assessing the situation in the Armenian political elite infected with the bacillus of revanchism? After odious statements of Armenian politicians, both pro-Prashinyan and pro-opposition, there is a persistent impression that the entire Armenia has fallen asleep in reality, and in this dream, Armenia has a huge combat-ready army, the support of all external centres of power, and billions of Armenian Diaspora. But Armenia's reality is much worse and darker... There are very few people in Armenia who are not in the world of dreams, not obsessed with delusional sleep. One of them is ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who the day before called on his country to finally face the truth.

"Difficult, painful decisions await us. Agreements should be signed with Azerbaijan and Türkiye that no one will like, but there is no alternative," the first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan said on the air of the Public TV Company.

"If a document is not signed, if peace is not made with these two neighbours, we can no longer restore the 70-year-old realities of the Soviet Union. We have to build a state again," said Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

It is clear, of course, that Ter-Petrosyan is far from being a Turkophile, and is vigilant about the interests of his country and Armenians first and foremost. Not to mention the fact that we remember what a vile role this man played in 1990-1994. However, unlike the "all-Armenian greatness" of the politicians of his country, Ter-Petrosyan realizes at least some obvious things - that political stability and material well-being of Armenia can be achieved only by rattling the saber and not preaching radicalism and chauvinism. They should finally face the truth and stop day and night dreaming about "miatsum".

Armenia, according to Levon Ter-Petrosyan, should no longer claim any rights to Karabakh, since there are no forces or opportunities left. And this must finally be honestly acknowledged. Another misconception in Armenian society is the long-standing, diagnosis-like obsession that someone more powerful, such as Russia, is about to intervene and fight purposefully for Karabakh for Armenians. Russia once had the key to solving the Karabakh problem, but now it is in Baku and it is no longer worth relying on Moscow. We need to take off the rose-coloured glasses and rinse them out, the former president advises.

"I don't want to discourage people, but Karabakh is now in a state where Armenia has no say, Armenia does not exist. Armenia is not an actor in Karabakh. The only thing is humanitarian, construction work. The key was in Russia's hands before the war. Now Russia has so many problems that it has lost the key. Can we expect anything from Russia now? It is ten times more dangerous than the Cuban crisis," he said.

Quite unflattering revelations for the Armenian political community stuck on the ideas of revanchism. In this sense, Armenian politicians are simply exploiting a weakness of their own mentality: many in that country tend to roll their eyes in bliss when they hear about the greatness of the Armenians. Even if it has absolutely no connection to reality, and even if Mount Agrydag has never been Armenian. One gets the impression that Armenian politicians have developed a special skill - to dream with their eyes squeezed shut by the horror of what is happening.

The serious delusion of the Armenian political behemoth, which is now battling to overthrow Pashinyan, is that it is taking a certain part of society away from the pressing problems, turning their heads with this confrontation. In Ter-Petrosyan's opinion, this is a foolish position. In this sense he is perhaps the most realistic politician, realising the absurdity of the ideas of revanchism and separatism.

Most of the opposition seems to think that if they can get rid of Nikol Pashinyan, they will be able to avoid painful decisions, but this is naive, said Ter-Petrosyan, dubbed "Grandpa" behind his back in Armenia. He understood long ago that the opposite is true: "Whoever comes may sign a document that will be even worse." And unlike the other "Hercules" of Armenian politics, Ter-Petrosyan does not boast, does not take on too much, and does not talk about what he is not very aware of.

"First of all, they have not proven that they can be better. They can't because they don't have the information, and I don't either. It seems to me that all decisions will be bad for us. I see the task: to choose the least painful decision out of all the bad ones, and in order to understand this, we need to own the information, and the only one who owns it, is Pashinyan," the ex-president stressed.

When asked what the US interests and role in the case of Armenia are and whether it can be the savior of the "country of stones", Ter-Petrosyan once again refuted all misconceptions and urged to "stop dreaming". There is no need to think, he is convinced, that if not Russia, America will solve all the problems of Armenians, especially now many external forces are busy with the war in Ukraine and they simply have no time for Armenians.

"Maybe the moment will come when the US and the EU will stop paying attention to what is happening here. If I said then that it's time to get serious, now it's time to get a thousand times more serious," he said.

But Armenia does not want to be more serious yet. It is stalling, hoping not to grow up. Like a child killer in a horror film, stained with blood and blaming everyone but himself. Hopes to stand in the corner for a while as punishment and then things will go back to the way they were. A gruesome but, in principle, fair comparison.

But anyway, Armenian revanchists and their supporting part of the Armenian society should listen to the wise words of "Grandpa", who by his political experience is certainly more shrewd and far-sighted than representatives of the "Karabakh clan". And most importantly - noticeably more honest. They should listen and begin to act to avoid war, in the context of peaceful dialogue with Azerbaijan. And if time is delayed again, there is a risk of a tougher solution - the boot of the Azerbaijani soldier.