Statements from Azerbaijan should be a warning sign, Pashinyan tells CSTO

PanARMENIAN.Net - Statements coming from Azerbaijan should serve as a warning sign, and the matter must be discussed within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received members of the sitting of the Committee of Secretaries of the Security Council of the organization.

"The Azerbaijani armed forces invaded our territory in May last year, and we applied to the CSTO. I have spoken about it many times, and as the Chairman, I want to emphasize that this issue should be discussed properly. Why? Because we see that aggressive statements by Azerbaijan continue, we should discuss this issue, especially considering that Armenia has applied to the CSTO, as it is a very fundamental issue for both us and the Organization," Pashinyan said Friday, June 17.

"I would also like to mention the following: After the invasion into our territory by the Azerbaijani troops, there were some comments that there is no demarcated border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Frankly, this is a very dangerous wording, because here we are, saying the area of responsibility of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. If we say that the borders along which the demarcation and delimitation processes have been carried out should be taken into account, it may confuse the notion of the CSTO area of responsibility, because the question arises: where does the CSTO area of responsibility begin, where does the CSTO area of responsibility end?"

Pashinyan said Yerevan's position is that there is a concrete border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, because in 1991, when the Commonwealth of Independent States was established, an interstate agreement was signed, which clearly states that the countries mutually recognize each other's existing borders.

"This refers to the administrative boundaries of the Soviet period, and I think we should have this as a starting point. The opposite interpretation of this situation, I think, will reduce the effectiveness of the CSTO," he said.

"I hope that the nuances mentioned during this meeting and during your sitting will also be discussed. I recently raised this issue during the informal CSTO summit in Moscow. We have started a discussion, once again, as the Chairman, I would like to instruct the CSTO Secretary General to organize this issue in accordance with our charter documents, as the situation in our region is stable but tense. And the statements made by Azerbaijani officials should be a warning sign, I think we should discuss this issue in the CSTO format."