Arman Babajanyan, the chairman of the “For the Republic” party, wrote on his “Facebook” page:
“Since one of the most critical and topical topics today is related to Meghri, I want to tell you about an episode that happened to me.
In February 2003, on the eve of the presidential elections, I returned to Armenia from the United States and joined the campaign of the opposition’s unified presidential candidate, Stepan Demirchyan. I had established close relations with the first president, Levon Ter-Petrosyan. I regularly visited Armenia and brought political science and history books to his library.
During the pre-election period, I began intensively discussing with Ter-Petrosyan some tactical steps that could ensure Stepan Demirchyan’s victory over Kocharyan. Levon Ter-Petrosyan conveyed invaluable information to me, which I carefully conveyed to Stepan Demirchyan. Thus, my relationship with Ter-Petrosyan made me a person who provided a link between Demirchyan and him. At that stage, the inside information provided by Ter-Petrosyan was invaluable.
Before the second round of the presidential elections, a televised debate between Stepan Demirchyan and Robert Kocharyan was to be broadcast on Public Television. That day, Ter-Petrosyan, through his assistant, summoned me to his mansion for a meeting and handed me a copy of a secret document that revealed the decision already made by the Kocharyan-Oskanyan tandem, according to which Armenia was preparing to exchange the entire Meghri region for Nagorno-Karabakh.
The document, with a map discussed in the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe, described in detail the mechanism of this exchange. I carefully delivered the document to Stepan Demirchyan’s campaign headquarters, separated with him in his restroom, and conveyed Ter-Petrosyan’s literal instructions.
Ter-Petrosyan had advised Demirchyan not to engage in any polemics with Kocharyan during the debate, discuss the economy, or discuss any other issue except this one. He urged the public to display the map publicly and declared, “Here is the proof that Kocharyan intended to exchange Meghri for Karabakh. I have nothing to say to the author of such a document, and I see no need for any debate.”
Stepan Demirchyan showed the document to the chief of staff, Albert Bazeyan, a founding member of the Republic party. However, the latter tore up the map and forbade Demirchyan from mentioning this top-secret document during the debate, accompanying his demand with the latest insults.
Then, the famous television debate took place, and the “elections” took place, with a well-known outcome. The real reasons for Albert Bazeyan’s behavior became clear after leaving the Republic party. Today, everything has fallen into place even more.”
