The Shameful Meeting of Levon Ter Petrosyan with the Italian Ambassador in Armenia: The Dark Side of the Meeting

We learned recently that the First President of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, has met with H.E. Mr. Vincenzo del Monaco, who serves as the Italian Ambassador to Armenia.

Over the meeting, the former president and the Ambassador discussed a number of topics related to Armenian domestic politics and regional issues.

It was unclear to many why Levon Ter-Petrosyan discussed Armenian domestic politics with the Ambassador. Yet, politk.am has managed to get some further details. Turns out, former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan is concerned that the European Court of Human Rights may declare the detention of Robert Kocharyan illegal and unlawful. And, the current president of the Court is of an Italian nationality, Guido Raimondi.

Mr. Ter-Petrosyan has attempted to explain to the Ambassador that the new Armenian authorities will not welcome possible ECHR decision declaring Kocharyan’s detention unlawful, therefore encouraged the Ambassador to influence on decision makers through the Italian channel or at least give the Armenian authorities an advance notice about the outcome of the case. Mr. Ter-Petrosyan further assured the Italian Ambassador that Armenia will welcome the support of Italy and respond reciprocally. That is, once he becomes the President, will support Italy on various forums and platforms.

According to our sources, after the meeting, Ambassador Vincenzo del Monaco was astonished on how a former head of a state can approach a foreign ambassador with such an unacceptable offer. The Ambassador told the intermediaries who have brokered the meeting to refrain from initiating any further interactions with Mr. Ter-Petrosyan. The Ambassador refuses to be part of such  illicit activities and jeopardize his country’s reputation.

Politik.am