MOSCOW (Respublica Armenia)–As reported–during the Moscow summit of CIS member-countries–Levon Ter-Petrosyan met with his Azeri counterpart Gaidar Aliyev.
"I am very satisfied with today’s meetings with Gaidar Aliyev. Moreover–we reached an agreement to use any chance to meet each other and discuss our problems," he declared.
Questioned on why he decided to assign Robert Kocharian as prime minister–Ter-Petrosyan said–"This was–first of all–a result of interior political considerations. This assignment will provide consolidation in our society. I do not try to conceal that our society was split after the last presidential elections. I received 52 percent of votes–my main opponent 41. This is a high percentage. Therefore–we need to consolidate our society. We shouldn’t tolerate such fragmentation–not so for strengthening the state–and not for resolution of the Karabakh conflict. This was the only option for me. Therefore–this assignment was not directed against anyone–but rather to stabilize the atmosphere in Armenia".
Speaking about the possibility of resuming military operations in the conflict zone–Ter-Petrosyan said–"I just told Gaidar Aliyev–and I can repeat it again openly–I can give a 100 percent guarantee that neither Armenia nor Kharabakh will violate the cease-fire and resume military operations.".
The same was said by the Azeri official–"I assured Levon Hakopovich too–and I declare to you that Azerbaijan will never violate the cease-fire and will never resume military operations. We may advance significantly. This is what we discussed today,"