51 Facts About Levon Ter-Petrosyan

Levon Ter-Petrosyan led the country through the First Nagorno-Karabakh War with neighboring Azerbaijan.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan was reelected in the 1996 presidential election, which was marred by accusations of electoral fraud, sparking mass protests led by runner-up Vazgen Manukyan.

From his resignation up to 2007, Levon Ter-Petrosyan was inactive in the political scene.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan faced one of his former government members, at the time Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan claimed the elections were rigged and led thousands of his supporters in mass protests against the alleged electoral fraud and called for new elections.

On 1 August 2008, Levon Ter-Petrosyan founded the Armenian National Congress which included more than a dozen of political parties and NGOs.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan's party lost those seats in the following elections and has not entered parliament since.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan led the ANC's electoral list during snap parliamentary elections in June 2021, where the party again failed to enter parliament.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan was born on 9 January 1946 in Aleppo, Syria to an Armenian family descended from a long line of priests living near Musa Dagh in the region of Hatay.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan's family took part in the armed resistance at Musa Dagh during the Armenian genocide before fleeing to Syria.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan had three brothers, Telman, Petros, as well as a younger sister, Iskuhi.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan's family emigrated to Soviet Armenia in 1947, when he was still an infant, just before the birth of his only living younger brother, Kamo.

From 1972 to 1979, Levon Ter-Petrosyan worked as junior researcher at the Manuk Abeghian Literature Institute of the Armenian Academy of Sciences.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan wrote his doctoral dissertation on the Assyrian language and its ties to Armenian.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan is a member of the Writers Union of Armenia, the French Asian Society, the Mekhitarist Academy in Venice and a recipient of honorary doctorates from the University of La Verne, University of Sofia, Paris-Sorbonne University and University of Strasbourg.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan was the de facto leader of the committee.

From 10 December 1988 to 31 May 1989, Levon Ter-Petrosyan was imprisoned in Moscow's Matrosskaya Tishina prison together with other members of the Karabakh Committee; they returned to Yerevan after their release and continued their activities.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan complied, but the militias continued their activities in Nagorno-Karabakh.

On 12 September 1990, Levon Ter-Petrosyan met with Gorbachev, Azerbaijani leader Ayaz Mutalibov and other Soviet officials, where Gorbachev rejected Levon Ter-Petrosyan's demands to withdraw the Soviet Army from Armenian settlements and create a line of demarcation between Armenians and Azebaijanis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan then brought Armenia into the Commonwealth of Independent States which formed after the formal abolition of the Soviet Union in December 1991.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan appointed Vazgen Sargsyan the first Defense Minister of independent Armenia in December 1991.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan dismissed Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, as between October 1992 and March 1993 Sargsyan served as the Presidential Adviser on Defence Affairs and the Presidential Envoy to Border Regions of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan appointed his comrade-turned-rival Vazgen Manukyan to the post.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan was qualified as Leader of the Armenian economic reforms end of the 20th century, defined by the World Bank as one of the best among former Soviet Union republics and countries of Eastern Europe.

Armenia's economic hardships during Levon Ter-Petrosyan's presidency made him deeply unpopular among much of the population, and some 693,999.00 people emigrated, nevertheless, it was estimated that the emigration numbers continued to grow after his resignation.

On 29 June 1992, Levon Ter-Petrosyan delivered a televised address where he accused the ARF of collaboration with the KGB and pilfering funds raised from the diaspora intended for Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Two years later, on 28 December 1994, Levon Ter-Petrosyan declared that a plot by the ARF to violently overthrow the government had been uncovered.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan's reelection was marred by allegations of electoral fraud reported by the opposition and supported by many international observers.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan was forced to step down in February 1998 after advocating a compromised settlement of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh which many Armenians regarded as undermining their security.

When Levon Ter-Petrosyan stepped down from the presidency, he compared himself to the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and stated that he was resigning was to avoid destabilizing the country.

On 21 September 2007, Levon Ter-Petrosyan made his first public speech in nearly ten years at an event in Yerevan marking the 16th anniversary of Armenia's declaration of independence.

Subsequently, Levon Ter-Petrosyan officially announced his candidacy in the 2008 presidential election in a speech in Yerevan on 26 October 2007.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan accused Kocharyan's government of massive corruption, involving the theft of "at least three to four billion dollars" over the previous five years.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan was critical of the government's claims of strong economic growth and argued that Kocharyan and his prime minister, Serzh Sargsyan, had come to accept a solution to the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh that was effectively the same solution that he had proposed ten years earlier.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan was placed under de facto house arrest, not being allowed to leave his home, though the authorities later denied the allegations.

In 2011, Levon Ter-Petrosyan again took a leading role in protests that erupted in Armenia as part of a wave of regional unrest.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan led the Armenian National Congress during the 2012 parliamentary election.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan talked about groups promoting pro-Western and pro-Russian divisions within the Armenian society and the political parties calling them "dangerous forces".

Levon Ter-Petrosyan did not announce whether he will run for president in February 2013.

On 7 February 2013, Levon Ter-Petrosyan gave another interview to the Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun daily newspaper.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan acknowledged that the ANC cannot continue its activities with the same structure.

On 23 February 2013, Levon Ter-Petrosyan addressed the gathered at the Pan-Armenian National Movement party convention.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan claimed Hovannisian won the election and accused incumbent Sargsyan in rigging the election.

In particular, Levon Ter-Petrosyan said "during the current post-election period we have seen everything but political processes".

Levon Ter-Petrosyan led the ANC's electoral list in the June 2021 snap parliamentary elections.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan announced that he would not take up his parliamentary mandate if the ANC enters parliament but fails to achieve a majority.

In October 2020, Kocharyan and Levon Ter-Petrosyan requested that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan give them permission to go to Moscow as special negotiators.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan called for the prime minister's voluntary resignation and accused him and the opposition candidate Vazgen Manukyan of leading the country to civil confrontation through their refusal to compromise.

On 25 March 2021 Levon Ter-Petrosyan met with ex-presidents Kocharyan and Sargsyan.

On 5 May 2021, Levon Ter-Petrosyan declared that the reason for the meeting was for him to propose an electoral alliance between the former presidents in order to unseat Prime Minister Pashinyan in the 2021 Armenian parliamentary election.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan is married to Lyudmila ; the couple has one son, David, who is an economist and businessman, and four grandchildren.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan is fluent in Armenian and Russian, with working knowledge of 9 other languages.