CSTO’s indifferent attitude led to enormous frustration in Armenia, says Mirzoyan

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. Despite being a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Armenia has not received significant support from the organization when the country has been subjected to attacks and its internationally recognized borders have been violated in recent years.

“Formally, we are still part of this organization, but we announced that we have frozen our participation in its activities. We have thought for decades that, in a military sense, we should be in this military alliance, because we have had some common threats, certain concerns, on possible aggression against the territorial integrity and independence of the Republic of Armenia. We thought that this organization would help us protect our sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Unfortunately, in recent years we have seen several attacks and our internationally recognized borders have been violated. When that happened, we never got any real support. At the same time, with such commitments, allies are supposed to help each other. That is exactly the point of a military alliance.

This indifferent attitude led to enormous frustration. It truly shifted public opinion in Armenia. It has created a unique situation. We are in the middle of a major process. Where this process will lead us, I cannot predict, but I can say that we are deepening our relations with our European partners across various fields. I am talking about the economy, economic resilience, as well as political dialogue and mutual understanding. We have EU involvement in the security environment of Armenia. We have the format of Political and Security dialogue with the EU. We have the European monitoring mission deployed on the ground in Armenia, monitoring the situation at the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. These developments were unimaginable just a few years ago,” stated the Foreign Minister.