June 1, 2010 - 16:00 AMT
Vahan Hovhannisyan: EU questions OSCE Minsk Group format

Head of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun parliamentary group Vahan Hovhannisyan said that in addition to the provisions, which were strictly criticized by the Armenian political forces, there are another two articles in the European Parliament’s Resolution on the South Caucasus, to which almost nobody referred.

Specifically, these articles raise concerns, as they offer to substitute France’s co-presidency in the OSCE Minsk Group by EU mandate, Hovhannisyan told a press conference in the RA National Assembly.

“This is a very crafty change, as initially France will hold the mandate, but then it may appear in the hands of another EU country by the rotation principle. And this will violate the current balance of forces in the OSCE Minsk Group,” said Hovhannisyan.

According to him, basically, the fact that not only Azerbaijan, but also the EU questions the current format of the Minsk Group raises concerns.

Another article of the resolution refers to the establishment of the Black Sea union. “If such an organization is formed, Russia and Turkey will become dominating countries in it. Meanwhile, the history proves that the Russian-Turkish approximation has always been disadvantageous for us,” noted Hovhannisyan.

He added that the Armenian authorities should think over the aforementioned problems and take action to prevent their implementation.

According to Hovhannisyan, Azerbaijan and Turkey are working towards increasing the number of similar documents, which will finally serve as a ground for recognizing Armenia an aggressor in various international structures.