Yerevan /Mediamax/. First President of Armenia, Leader of Armenian National Congress (ANC) Levon Ter-Petrosyan has rebuked the Pan-Armenian Declaration.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s article on “Reflections on the Promulgation of the “Pan-Armenian Declaration on the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide” was published in “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” newspaper today.

The ANC leader noted that no matter how representative the committee coordinating Armenian Genocide Centennial events is it cannot reflect the united will of the Armenian people.

“Fortunately or unfortunately, no body or structure can speak on behalf of all Armenians”, writes Levon Ter-Petrosyan. He stated that only the Pan-Armenian referendum can express the united will of the Armenians, however, “the referendum is impossible due to overt reasons”.

The first President said that the Declaration would have ponderous significance and would have a value of a strong legal and political document had it been promulgated with the signatures of the Armenian and NKR Presidents, Catholicos of All Armenians, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia as well as the leaders of the Armenian Catholic Church and Armenian Evangelical Church.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan rebuked Point 3 of the Declaration, where the Committee thanks the countries and organizations that have recognized the Armenian Genocide.

“It’s but a rustic statement putting Armenian people in a degrading situation”, writes Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

“The recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide does not require courage from any state or international organization inasmuch as it’s their commitment fixed by international conventions and being thanked for doing it should be even insulting to them”, writes the ANC leader.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan notes that the Declaration contains “the entire repertoire of the current perception of the Armenian Question – recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey, compensation for moral and material harm to the descendants of Armenians who used to live in Western Armenia and in other places in the Ottoman Empire, recovery of possession of individual and community properties, mass resettlement of Armenians in the houses of their ancestors, and finally, enlargement of the Armenian territory in conformity with the borders drawn by the Treaty of Sevres and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson”.

“If since 1998 the recognition of the Armenian Genocide was placed in the basis of the Armenian foreign policy which resulted in being obliged to set up a committee of Armenian and Turkish historians, then the Pan-Armenian Declaration of the Armenian Genocide Centennial places the issue of claims in the core of the Armenian foreign policy. Only God knows what this sharp turn will result in. At this moment it’s simply clear that it will greatly complicate and for quite a long time freeze the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, which is a highly important process for the future of Armenia”, writes Levon Ter-Petrosyan.