Levon Ter Petrosian, HHSh Independence Day Reception, Marriott Armenia, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

Yesterday was Independence Day, but for most election commentators and observers another event eclipsed the free concert that was staged in Yerevan’s Republic Square. Two hours earlier at the Armenia Marriott Hotel, the former ruling Pan Armenian National Movement (HHSh) held a reception to mark the 16th anniversary of Armenia’s independence from the former Soviet Union, but everyone was waiting for the event to mark another potentially historic moment — the return of the first president of the Republic of Armenia, Levon Ter Petrosian, to politics ahead of the 2008 presidential election.

He didn’t disappoint, it has to be said, and made his first public speech in nearly a decade although he stopped short of making any decision on whether to run against the prime minister, Serzh Sarkisian, in next year’s vote. Even so, the packed Tigran Metz ballroom in the Marriott Hotel greeted Ter Petrosian with rapturous applause and chants of “Levon, Levon, Levon…” He might not have made a decision yet, but the event seemed more like the launch of a presidential election campaign than not. RFE/RL reported on the reception.

Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian broke his nearly decade-long silence Friday with an unusually harsh attack on the current authorities in Yerevan which he branded “criminal and corrupt” and accused of turning Armenia into a “third world country.”

Making his first public speech since his dramatic resignation in 1998, Ter-Petrosian said he has still not decided whether or not participate in the upcoming presidential election. He also reiterated his belief that Armenia’s sustainable development is impossible without a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the opening of its borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey.

“I have not made a decision yet,” Ter-Petrosian told hundreds of admiring and expectant loyalists who gathered at a Yerevan hotel to celebrate the 16th anniversary of Armenia’s independence. “I am still examining, weighing up, considering things. My approach is purely political. I can’t be guided by emotions. Adventurism is alien to my character.”

“Until I know the effectiveness of my would-be steps, I won’t take steps. Of course, there is a change of atmosphere, a change of mood but in my view, but it has not yet, so to speak, come to a boil,” he said.

The full post is available on the 2008 Presidential Election Monitor Blog.