Yerevan /Mediamax/. First President of Armenia Levon Ter- Petrosyan has stated that the referendum on constitutional reforms "is fraught with unpredictable outcomes for Armenia and Karabakh”.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan has today published an article titled “Constitutional Referendum: A Risk Venture Fraught with Unpredictable Outcomes” on ilur.am.

“After about a 25-year-old break, the world is now entering a new stage of cold war, and Middle East will become one of its hotspots: the signs are already looming. Having zealously been involved in the Syrian events and cementing ties with Iran, Russia unveils its long-term strategic interests in the region. Under these conditions, it’s obvious that to strengthen its “back”, Russia will soon take serious steps to bolster its positions in the territories adjacent to Middle East.

Transcaucasia being one of those territories, and, perhaps, the major one, Russia will first of all set to addressing the NK conflict and settling Armenia-Azerbaijan relations which is particularly evidenced by Lavrov’s recent visits to Baku and Yerevan. I don’t mean Russia will force any new project of NK settlement: it will rather give a new impetus to the program elaborated by OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and based on Madrid Principles.

However, in this regard, Armenia is facing serious challenges and to overcome them, full unification and maximum strengthening of statehood is needed. Instead, as we saw, the regime is obsessed with the idea of imposing the new constitution on the people, which cannot be called otherwise than a risky venture. And the provision on eliminating the position of the Supreme Commander in case of war is beyond comprehension.

I am convinced Serzh Sargsyan is perhaps the only person among the Armenian authorities who clearly realizes the threats contained in our country’s current geopolitical situation. That’s why, I still have the hope that he will be able to at least suspend the process of constitutional reforms, demonstrating an approach of a country leader. And if it is already impossible, he should at least drop the idea of falsifying the referendum results at any cost and thus deepening the gap between the regime and society even more”, wrote Ter-Petrosyan.