- Levon Ter-Petrossian
Infobox_President | name=Levon Ter-Petrossian Լևոն Տեր-Պետրոսյան | nationality=Armenian
order=1stPresident of Armenia
term_start=October 16 ,1991
term_end=February 3 ,1998
successor=Robert Kocharyan
birth_date=Birth date and age|1945|1|9|mf=y
birth_place=Aleppo ,Syria
dead=alive
party=ANM (Armenian: ՀՀՇ or "HHSh")Levon Ter-Petrossian (Armenian: Լևոն Տեր-Պետրոսյան; Russian: Левон Тер-Петросян) (born
January 9 1945 ), sometimes transliterated Levon Ter-Petrosyan or Ter-Petrosian (with or without thehyphen ), was the President ofArmenia from 1991 to 1998. Due to someeconomic andpolitical problems, he resigned onFebruary 3 ,1998 and was succeeded byRobert Kocharyan .Early life and career
Ter-Petrossian was born in
Aleppo ,Syria to an Armenian-Syriancommunist family of genocide survivors. They emigrated to Armenia in 1946.In 1968, Ter-Petrossian graduated from the Oriental Studies Department of the
Yerevan State University . In 1972, he completed hispostgrad uate studies at theLeningrad State University . In 1987, he received hisdoctoral degree from the same university. In 1972-1978, Ter-Petrossian worked as junior researcher at the Literature Institute of Armenia named afterManouk Abeghian . In 1978-1985, he held the post of science secretary atMatenadaran named after Saint Mesrob Mashdots. Since 1985, Ter-Petrossian has been working at Matenadaran as a senior researcher.He is married to
Lyudmila Ter-Petrossian . They have one son, David Ter-Petrossian, and three grandchildren.Ter-Petrossian is fluent in Armenian, Russian, French, English, German, Arabic and some "dead" languages. He is the author of more than 70 scholarly publications in Armenian, Russian and French. He is also a member of the
Writers Union of Armenia , the French Asian Society, theVenice Mkhitarian Academy and a recipient of honorary doctorates from theUniversity of La Verne ,University of Sofia ,Sorbonne University andUniversity of Strasbourg .Ter-Petrossian's political career started in the 1960s. In 1966 he was arrested for his active participation in an
April 24 demonstration. In February 1988, he led Matenadaran'sKarabakh committee . In May of the same year, he became involved with the Armenian Committee of the Karabakh movement. FromDecember 10 ,1988 , toMay 31 ,1989 , he was under arrest together with other members of the "Karabakh" committee.In 1989, Ter-Petrossian was elected Member of the Board of the
Pan-Armenian National Movement . Later on, he became the Chairman of the Board.On
August 27 ,1989 , he was elected as deputy of theSupreme Soviet of theArmenian SSR . He was re-elected as deputy onMay 20 ,1990 . OnAugust 4 of the same year, he became Chairman of the Supreme Council of theRepublic of Armenia . [ [http://www.levonpresident.am/ The Official Levon Ter-Petrosian for President Web Site] ]Term as President
Ter-Petrossian was popularly elected the first President of the newly-independent Republic of Armenia on
October 16 ,1991 and re-elected onSeptember 22 ,1996 . His re-election was marred by allegations of electoral fraud reported by the opposition and supported by some international observers. His popularity waned further as the opposition started blaming him for the economic quagmire that Armenia's post-Soviet economy was in. He was also unpopular with one party in particular, theArmenian Revolutionary Federation , which he banned and jailed its leadership, on the grounds that the party had a foreign-based leadership--something which was forbidden according to the Armenian Constitution.Resignation
He was forced to step down in February 1998 after advocating concessions to Azerbaijan in the resolution of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh which many Armenians regarded as undermining their security. Ter-Petrossian's key ministers, led by then-Prime Minister
Robert Kocharyan , refused to accept a peace plan for Karabakh put forward by international mediators in September 1997. The plan, accepted by Ter-Petrossian and Azerbaijan, called for a "phased" settlement of the conflict which would postpone an agreement on Karabakh's status, the main stumbling block. That agreement was to accompany the return of most Armenian-controlled Azerbaijani territories around Karabakh and the lifting of the Azerbaijani and Turkish blockades of ArmeniaFact|date=February 2008.Comeback
Since his resignation, Ter-Petrossian rarely appeared in public and avoided contact with the media, although there were speculations that he would run for the office of president of Armenia in the general election in February 2003. He instead devoted his time to scientific research. In 2005-2007 Ter-Petrossian published two volumes of his "The Crusaders and Armenians" historio-political research.
On
September 21 2007 , Ter-Petrossian gave his first public speech in nearly ten years at an event inYerevan marking the 16th anniversary of Armenia's declaration of independence. In this speech he was strongly critical of Kocharyan. Subsequently, Ter-Petrossian officially announced his candidacy in the 2008 presidential election in a speech in Yerevan on26 October 2007 . He accused Kocharyan's government of massive corruption, involving the theft of "at least three to four billion dollars" over the previous five years. He was critical of the government's claims of strong economic growth and argued that Kocharyan and his Prime Minister,Serge Sargsyan , had come to accept a solution to the problem ofNagorno-Karabakh that was effectively the same solution that he had proposed ten years earlier. A number of opposition parties have rallied behind him since his return to the political arena, including thePeople's Party of Armenia led byStepan Demirchian , Armenian Republic Party led byAram Sargsyan , [Emil Danielian and Liz Fuller, [http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/11/fc64b5fb-efac-4463-8e9f-13b3d6fd1714.html "Armenian Ex-President Confirms Comeback Plans"] , Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1 November 2007.]Social Democrat Hunchakian Party , "Azadakrum" movement forJirair Sefilian , "New Times" Party and the Heritage Party, led byRaffi Hovannisian . [ [http://www.payqar.org/am/1/ Payqar newspaper] ; see also http://azadakrum.org]Final results from the election, which was held on
February 19 2008 , showed Ter-Petrossian in second place with 21.5% of the vote, well behind Prime MinisterSerge Sarkisian . [ [http://www.defacto.am/index.php?OP=71396441 "RA CEC DECLARED SERGE SARGSIAN ARMENIA’S PRESIDENT"] , defacto.am, 25 February 2008.] He accused the government of rigging the election and claimed victory; [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/19/europe/EU-POL-Armenia-Presidential-Election.php "Armenian opposition candidate accuses prime minister of election violations"] , Associated Press ("International Herald Tribune"), February 19, 2008.] beginning onFebruary 20 , he led continuous protests involving tens of thousands of his supporters in Yerevan. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/21/europe/EU-POL-Armenia-Presidential-Election.php "Thousands challenge victory of Armenian PM in presidential vote in 2nd day of protests"] , Associated Press ("International Herald Tribune"), February 21, 2008.]Kocharyan ordered the Police to start breaking up the protests on
March 1 and then declared a state of emergency. On the same day, Ter-Petrossian was reportedly placed under house arrest. [ [http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2008/03/FFAB3C6D-A75D-4E48-B0D6-5D3A83069160.ASP Ter-Petrosian ‘Under House Arrest,’ Rally Broken Up, "Radio Liberty"] ] [ [http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2008/03/7D25D2BD-9268-4233-A631-BF5F29FD5BCE.html "Armenia: Eight Killed After Clashes Between Police, Protesters"] , Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, March 2, 2008.]Filmography
* 2002: " [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5259207171967580050The manuscript of independence] (Matyan Ankakhutyan), a documentary, which was dedicated to the 10th anniversary of independence of Armenia (1991-2001). Director -
Levon Mkrtchyan .
thumb|200px|">The Manuscript of Independence
Above:Levon Ter-PetrossianReferences
External links
* [http://www.payqar.org/am/1/ "Payqar" (Struggle) official newspaper]
* [http://www.president.am/library/eng/?task=43 Official Presidential site of Armenia]
* [http://www.huliq.com/39676/first-president-of-armenia-levon-ter-petrosian-announces-candidacy Levon Ter Petrosian Announces Presidential Candidacy]
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