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Some CSTO partners consider collective security as secondary: Khosrov Harutyunyan

Armenpress 14:41, 22 December, 2015

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. It is not the first time that Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan draws attention of his partners to a simple fact. According to the charter of CSTO, military threat against any CSTO member state should be considered a threat to collective security. MP Khosrov Harutyunyan expressed such an opinion in the interview with “Armenpress”. According to him, Armenia has guided by the importance of that very significant thesis in the entire period of its being a member of CSTO.

“When tension rose on Afghan-Tajik border, Armenia expressed its readiness to contribute to the increasing of collective security level and strengthening the borders. It seemed that we cannot have any relation, but Armenia expressed its willingness. Unfortunately, in the case of regional threats we do not see such treatment from CSTO,” the MP said, emphasizing that Azerbaijan's unrestrained aspirations of military action is nothing less than a threat directed not to Armenia but completely to the collective security. According to MP, while many of our partners, including Central Asia, mainly driven by obscure economic interests shadowing or reserving a secondary role for the collective security.

President Sargsyan, taking advantage of the fact that Armenia currently chairs the CSTO, drew attention to that fact. “Serzh Sargsyan noted the following thesis: As a country presiding over the CSTO, we must respond to regional challenges, threatening not only Armenia, but also the collective security. During sharpening of Russian-Turkish relations, at a time when the plane crashed in Russia, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of RA, Colonel General Yuri Khachaturov made a statement. And instead of CSTO partners to support these statements, there were responds that no one had authorized Gen. Khachaturov to make statements on behalf of their names. This speaks about the fact that there is no approach to CSTO collective security yet. It is not still perceived that this is a unified political structure and cannot be used merely for the separate regions of interest,” MP added.

After the President's speech, comments are made about whether it is advisable for Armenia to stay within the CSTO or not. Khosrov Harutyunayn mentioned that such issue is not put into discussion. “I do not think so and I do not see even the implication. Armenia was one of the founders of CSTO and all this time made its constructive contribution to collective security,” Khosrov Harutyunyan added.

President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan delivered a speech at the session of the CSTO Collective Security Council referring to the implementation process of the agreements reached at the September session of the CSTO CSC, Armenia’s priorities within the Organization as the presiding country, events planned within the framework of the CSTO as well as to international and regional threats and challenges.



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