YEREVAN. – No other Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member country has the right and grounds for seeking the Secretary General’s position now.

“Against Legal Arbitrariness” NGO Executive Director, first Human Rights Defender of Armenia, and public activist Larisa Alaverdyan, stated about the abovementioned at a press conference on Saturday.

Alaverdyan noted that she highly lauds Armenian acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement addressed to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

“The CSTO charter is clear that our country shall be at the Secretary General’s position for three years,” Alaverdyan said. “Various incidents could have happened with the [Armenian] CSTO Secretary General; [now ex-Secretary General] Yuri Khachaturov could have left that office for other reasons. Armenia needs to clearly demand—with its entire political arena—from the CSTO to obey the norms of their own charter.”

Larisa Alaverdyan said it was normal that acting PM Pashinyan was demanding explanations from the Belarusian and the Kazakh presidents in such a tone and manner because, after the closed meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council, Belarusian President Lukashenko had told the ambassador of CSTO non-member Azerbaijan about this closed talk.

“It was said appropriately to the upper degree, [and] with dignity by Pashinyan that answers shall be demanded because if you are a partner in a group, be good enough to show that with your posture and manifestations, and not only with a document. In this regard, I consider these last moves by Nikol Pashinyan as positive.” 

Armenia acting PM to demand explanations from Belarus, Kazakhstan presidents