Armenia wants proper CSTO mechanisms to resolve border crisis

PanARMENIAN.Net - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has stressed the importance of the proper application of mechanisms existing within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in order to resolve the border crisis that has emerged since Azerbaijan's incursion into Armenia back in May.

Pashinyan made the remarks at a meeting with Stanislav Zas, the CSTO Secretary General, in Yerevan on Tuesday, August 10.

While the Prime Minister said Armenia values its membership in the CSTO, describing it as one of the key elements of the country's security system, he did say Yerevan is seriously preparing for its chairmanship in the Organization.

"You know that, unfortunately, it’s been already 2-3 months that a crisis exists on the Armenian borders, which poses a concrete threat to the security of the Republic of Armenia. The armed forces of Azerbaijan have been positioned in our territory for a few months now. Of course, there have been many discussions about the CSTO response to that situation. I have to say that, in fact, for the first time we encounter such a situation within the CSTO and we have to examine the situation very attentively, so as we can raise the effectiveness of the CSTO mechanisms in the future. I think that your visit is very important also from this perspective. In this context, we take our chairmanship very seriously and we are preparing for it," Pashinyan said.

"In this situation it’s important for us to find the political solution to the existing issues, and there are all the opportunities for that. It’s necessary to appropriately apply the mechanisms existing in the CSTO."

Pashinyan noted that Armenia's position on the regional agenda is constructive, and that the country is committed to the implementation of the agreements provided by the statements of November 9 and January 11.

"It’s very important for us to create necessary conditions and reach concrete solutions in terms of opening the regional communications. It’s very important for us to really start border demarcation and delimitation with Azerbaijan. Of course, it’s necessary to create concrete conditions for that. I hope and I am confident that there are real opportunities to solve this crisis on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, at the Sotk-Khoznavar section, through political methods. I expect that we will be able to reach concrete solutions within the CSTO, particularly, in terms of the monitoring of the situation. This is the issue for which it’s necessary to make concrete decisions and work for concrete mechanisms," he said.