YEREVAN. – The meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was held Wednesday in Kyrgyzstan’s capital city of Bishkek. Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned this from the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia.
Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan began his address at this event by congratulating everyone on the 74th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus. The minister noted, in particular, that attempts to rewrite history and the arbitrary interpretations of our heroic past are unacceptable for Armenia.
Minister Mnatsakanyan stressed that the humanitarian situation in Syria is a very sensitive matter for Armenia, and the latter had to respond to the deprivations and sufferings which the people of Syria, including its large Armenian community, are undergoing. “We [Armenia] are closely following the development of the situation in the Middle East, as well as Turkey’s involvement in the processes existing there,” Mnatsakanyan emphasized. He added that the absence of Turkey’s relations with Armenia and Turkey’s unilateral stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are a threat to the entire CSTO.
In the context of the present-day situation around Iran, the Armenian Foreign Minister noted that stability around Iran is important in terms of ensuring the comprehensive security of Armenia.
Minister Mnatsakanyan highlighted the need for joint efforts to combat terrorism, as well as for responding to illicit drug trafficking and other transnational crimes and challenges.
The Armenian FM presented to his other CSTO colleagues the latest developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) peace process, and underscored the importance of the implementation of the agreements that are reached on the formation of a peace-building environment. In this regard, Minister Mnatsakanyan expressed concern over the involvement of some CSTO member states in arms sales to Azerbaijan, and which, as per the Armenian FM, has a negative impact both on the standing of this organization and on that climate of cooperation. “We hope our concern is listened to and appropriate steps are being taken to rule out the illusion of using force, or threat of force, against a CSTO member state,” Zohrab Mnatsakanyan concluded.
