YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. The procedure on replacing a Secretary General aren’t regulated, and the consultations initiated by Armenia are directed for this very circumstance, foreign ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan told ARMENPRESS in response to an inquiry about the replacement of the CSTO Secretary General.

ARMENPRESS: Currently the process on changing the CSTO Secretary General is already underway. How is it carried out?

Naghdalyan: The CSTO fundamental documents mention that the Secretary General is appointed by the Collective Security Council at the recommendation of the Foreign Ministerial Council, by a three-year term, at an alphabetical order. The replacement procedure of a Secretary General isn’t anyhow regulated and the consultations that have been initiated by Armenia in summer of the current year are aimed at this very thing.

ARMENPRESS: Which countries are entitled to request a replacement of the CSTO Secretary General? At what grounds can a Secretary General be replaced?

Naghdalyan: Any of the CSTO member states can initiate a replacement of the CSTO Secretary General, but decisions are made based on consensus within the CSTO.

ARMENRESS: Can the given country that has nominated the incumbent Secretary General recall him?

Naghdalyan: Any of the member states can start a replacement initiation of the CSTO Secretary General. It is impossible to recall the Secretary General since he is not the representative of the given country in the CSTO. Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the CSTO is Davit Virabyan.

Earlier Armenian President Armen Sarkissian said that “Armenia will most likely recall” Yuri Khachaturov from the position of CSTO Secretary General.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan