The Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Parliamentary Assembly (CSTO PA) was held in the National Assembly.
During the press conference following the meeting, the journalists asked the head of the Armenian Delegation to CSTO, RPA MP Khosrov Harutyunyan whether the information is true that a resolution has been adopted at the Yerevan meeting, which states the challenges encountered by CSTO member countries, that the reference about NKR is missing in the resolution, that Azerbaijan constitutes a threat to Armenia and the Armenian delegation has not raised the issue during the meeting.
Khosrov Harutyunyan said that information was true, “It is necessary to introduce the issue in the context of CSTO issues from the prospective of security of Armenia. The issues of collective security in South Caucasus are directly related to the security of Armenia. There should be no other approach,” said Khosrov Harutyunyan, adding that the threats of Azerbaijan are exclusively conditioned by the threats against the Republic of Armenia, and we can not disregard these threats, and not only those observed from Azerbaijan, “Azerbaijan arms not only outer regional players, but also CSTO member states, hence, we have also talked about this very topic. We have talked about the blockade of Armenia by Turkey, as a real threat to CSTO security system. The objective was very clear, try to present our partners the real threats that are related perhaps to the security of Armenia, but they are a real threat to the system of collective security system,” said Harutyunyan opposing the statement of his Russian counterpart who still is planning to discuss these issues.
Khosrov Harutyunyan assures that they have talked about these issues during the morning session, and there is an agreement that as a result of these discussions, the working group, in the participation of CSTO Secretariat and our delegates, will develop the final document, which would include all of the questions are of interest. “The most essential is that during the discussion, these issues have become the main key topics. We have also talked about the solution of Karabakh conflict by Azerbaijan through military means, which Azerbaijan constantly torpedoes,” assured the speaker, adding that there will be a CSTO statement saying that any attempt to implement the settlement of conflicts through military means or under the threat of force, shall be considered as a threat against the collective security.
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Aravot.am has already informed that the working language of the meeting was Russian, which caused the indignation of MPs. Even Khachatur Kokobelyan has called for respect of the Constitution of Armenia, and he had made his speech in Armenian. Khosrov Harutyunyan clarified that the working language in CSTO is Russian, and accordingly the tasks are conducted only in Russian and, as for Kokobelyan’s speech, he has personally translated it and does not see any problem with it. The press conference was also in Russian without translation. To this respect, he answered the questions of journalist that the problem is purely technical, and he does not see anything extraordinary in it.
Nelly Grigoryan
