Issues of border security to be discussed at CSTO summit: Armenian Deputy FM

 

 

 

“The Eurasian Economic Union is a purely economic structure and has nothing to do with security. Therefore, no issue of border security can be discussed,” Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told reporters today. He added that the issue will be raised at the forthcoming CSTO summit on September 15.

Does Armenia expect concrete actions from the CSTO? Shavarsh Kocharyan said that we “first and foremost rely upon ourselves on issue of our security and defense.”

“We should understand that if a country relies upon others, the outcome may be sad,” he said. He added, however, that “the role of any country is important to us, and this first of all refers to countries we have agreements with.”

The Deputy Foreign Minister stressed that the settlement of the Karabakh conflict proceeds within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. He said progress is absent because Azerbaijan puts the emphasis on issues favorable to itself. “There will be no progress unless Azerbaijan changes its behavior, while speaking about unilateral concessions is simply strange.”

Referring to reports on the expected visit of Crimean leader Sergey Aksenev to Armenia, Shavarsh Kocharyan declared that “the Armenian Foreign Ministry has not sent any official invitation to the leadership of Crimea, but added that “any person with a Russian passport is free to visit Armenia.”

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS