Azerbaijani forces’ incursion into Armenia’s sovereign territory a direct threat to security of CSTO member state – FM

YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s caretaker foreign minister Ara Aivazian participated today in both the narrow and extended format sessions of the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, the ministry told Armenpress.

In continuation of the discussions held yesterday, the caretaker FM presented the security situation in the CSTO Caucasian region, keeping in spotlight the escalation of the situation caused by the incursion of the Azerbaijani armed forces into Armenia’s border provinces. “The incursion of the Azerbaijani armed forces into Armenia’s sovereign territory is a direct threat to the security, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the CSTO member states, which is a challenge for the Organization’s collective security system”, he said.

Ara Aivazian told his colleagues that in such conditions the CSTO emergency situations response procedure is becoming relevant.

Touching upon the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Ara Aivazian said the use of force by Azerbaijan can in no way lead to the solution of the conflict, adding that the conflict must be solved exclusively in political-diplomatic platform under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship and based on the joint and comprehensive implementation of the principles developed by that mediation mission.

The session agenda also covered issues relating to the regional and the international situation and its impact on the security of the CSTO member states, the cooperation of the member states with international organizations, etc.

Based on the results of the session the Foreign Ministers adopted and approved a number of documents aimed at the cooperation between the CSTO member states in different dimensions.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan