The Armenian National Congress (ANC) agrees with Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s statement at the 16th congress of the Armenian National Movement (ANM): with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict unsettled and Armenian-Turkish relations not normalized, Armenia has no prospects of economic development, security and demographic development regardless of which political force is in power in the country, ANM Board Chairman Aram Manukyan told reporters July 21.

“I appreciate his courage and ability to speak the truth instead of shunning reality,”’ Manukyan said. According to him, Armenian has been without Armenians, especially since the March 1, 2008 events. “Ter-Petrosyan’s SOS has to do with this problem. Karabakh has serious demographic problems. If the situation develops like this, Armenia will face serious problems. It must be a SOS signal for all the political forces,” Manukyan said.

According to him, strong Armenia is a guarantee of successful settlement of the conflict. The past ten years have seen numerous documents not in Armenia’s favor. The terms of settling the conflict are now shorter as well.

“The issue of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh will soon be resolved in the worst way for the Armenian side,” he said. Manukyan added that the authorities’ resignation may be “kind of salvation.”