YEREVAN, MAY 26, ARMENPRESS. The chair of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs Ruben Rubinyan from the ruling My Step bloc doesn’t rule out that Armenia could potentially apply to the CSTO also by invoking Article 4 amid the Azerbaijani military encroachment against Armenia.

Speaking to reporters, Rubinyan commented on the opposition’s opinions as to why should allies step in and help if Armenia itself is not repelling the Azeri incursion militarily. “First of all, it is our allies themselves who’ve urged us and continue urging not to escalate the situation and attempt to solve the issue diplomatically and politically. And secondly, the allied formats in which we are involved have clear, envisaged articles for specific cases. And we aren’t asking for help by without doing anything, but we’ve rather applied based on specific documents, under a specific article. Moreover, I am talking about both the application to the CSTO on Article 2 and the prime minister’s letter based on the Armenia-Russia bilateral treaty. And we expect that our allies will support us in solving this issue. Taking into consideration the latest developments, I don’t rule out that we will reach Article 4 and not only,” he said, referring to the fatal shooting of an Armenian serviceman by Azerbaijani troops on May 25.

Rubinyan reiterated that the latest victim was not caused by an accident and that it was one of the manifestations of Azerbaijan’s aggression.

“Our position is the following – the Azerbaijani troops must withdraw from Armenian sovereign territories. Armenia is trying and will try to solve this issue first of all politically and diplomatically, which doesn’t mean that other solutions can’t happen if these fail,” he said, referring to a military solution.

“The current status-quo is definitely unacceptable for us, but the operational situation in those parts is under the control of our troops,” he said.

Armenia has so far only requested the CSTO for assistance under the treaty’s Article 2 – “The Member States shall consult with each other on all important issues of the international security affecting their interests, and coordinate positions on these issues.In case of menace to safety, stability, territorial integrity and sovereignty of one or several Member States or menace to international peace and safety of the Member States shall immediately launch the mechanism of joint consultations for the purpose of their positions coordination, develop and take measures for assistance to such Member States for the purpose of elimination of the arisen menace.”

Article 4 on the other hand says that an attack on a member state is an attack on all members. In the event of an attack, the member states must provide all necessary help, including military support, to the member state under attack in accordance to a formal request.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan