Category: 2019

Minsk, 14 February: Delaying the appointment of a new secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is detrimental to the Organization, Anatol Hlaz, spokesman for the Belarusian foreign ministry, told reporters in Minsk on Thursday.

"The CSTO has had no secretary general for a long time," Hlaz said. "This situation is not good for the Organization and needs to be resolved as soon as possible, the more so as at meetings in both Astana and Saint Petersburg, heads of state spoke in favour of a candidate representing Belarus."

Hlaz noted that in December 2018, at the request of the president of Kyrgyzstan, who chaired the Collective Security Council, the CSTO Secretariat drew up a draft directive appointing Stanislaw Zas, state secretary of the Security Council of Belarus, to serve as secretary general of the CSTO.

Zas immediately held meetings with heads of state in five capital cities and all the presidents approved of his candidacy, the spokesman said. "In view of the fact that Armenia held parliamentary elections in December last year and then the country formed a government, the fact that the prime minister of Armenia had no opportunity to meet with the Belarusian candidate was met with understanding from us," Hlaz said. "Now this period is over, and therefore we expect the Armenian side to soon notify us of a possible date for such a meeting."

Minsk aims to maintain constructive cooperation with Yerevan in this regard, Hlaz stressed. "We hope we'll reach a mutual understanding," he said. "The post of secretary general in an international military and political organization is not a hotel room that can be booked."

On 21 December 2018, Alyaksandr Lukashenka formally approved the potential appointment of General Zas as secretary general of the CSTO following Zas' visits to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia.

Zas told the Belarusian leader that the presidents of those CSTO member countries had given their consent to his appointment.

"I formerly said that Belarus had several candidates for the position, but I eventually chose to nominate Zas in order to show that our organization should switch from appointing retired generals – I don't want to say anything bad about them – to appointing young and promising active generals in order to give weight to the organization," Lukashenka said.

However, the Armenian foreign ministry's spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan made it clear that Yerevan was not going to give its consent to the appointment of Zas. She said in December that Armenian authorities were still discussing the issue, and that Zas was not expected to visit Armenia soon.

While speaking to reporters in Saint Petersburg on 6 Decembe, Lukashenka claimed that the issue of the appointment of a new CSTO secretary general had been resolved.

"Unexpectedly, we almost held a CSTO meeting today and actually solved the problem regarding the appointment of a secretary general," Lukashenka said. "A representative of Belarus [will become the new secretary general], as [Kazakhstan's President] Nurusltan Abishevich [Nazarbayev] said earlier."

Lukashenka's allegation was denied by Arman Yeghoyan, spokesman for the acting prime minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan.

"There was no CSTO meeting," Yeghoyan said. "Armenia's position on the matter remains unchanged."

The previous CSTO secretary general, Yuri Khachaturov of Armenia, was recalled by Yerevan on 2 November after just a year and a half in the position instead of three years.

General Khachaturov, who was chief of staff of the Armenian Armed Forces from 2008 to 2016, was recalled because the new Armenian government had charged him with an attempted state coup, along with former President Robert Kocharyan.

Yerevan intended to propose another candidate for the job, but the CSTO rules of procedure did not have a clear provision as to what should happen if someone is recalled from the position.

Following the CSTO's 8 November summit in Kazakhstan's Astana, the Kazakh president said that a representative of Belarus should become the new secretary general of the Organization because Armenia is followed alphabetically by Belarus.

The issue of the appointment of a new secretary general was expected to be discussed at a CSTO summit in Saint Petersburg on 6 December, but the summit was cancelled at the request of Armenia.

Pashinyan said on 2 December, the issue of the appointment of a new CSTO secretary general would not be resolved until after the end of 2018. "There is no consensus on this issue," he said.

Yerevan would like a representative of Armenia to hold this position in the remaining year and a half.

Having released Elnur Huseynzada, [Azerbaijan's breakaway] Nagorno-Karabakh ruled out the release or exchange of other Azerbaijani citizens Sahbaz Quliyev and Dilqam Asgarov [detained in 2014 and sentenced to 22 years in prison and life imprisonment respectively], who were convicted for extremely grievous crimes. At the same time, the foreign ministry of the unrecognised republic noted that Azerbaijan should address directly the government of Nagorno-Karabakh regarding such issues. Both the ruling party and the opposition described as absurd the idea of exchanging Quliyev and Asgarov for Armenian prisoners kept in Azerbaijan.

Kavkazsky Uzel wrote that Azerbaijani prisoner of war Elnur Huseynzada served his two-year sentence in Nagorno-Karabakh and was released. According to the prosecutor's office of Artsakh, he asked to transfer him not to Azerbaijan, but to a third country. Azerbaijan has put him on the wanted list on charges of high treason.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry expects that Armenia will release Dilqam Asgarov and Sahbaz Quliyev like it released Elnur Huseynzada.

"We would like Armenia to release Dilqam Asgarov and Sahbaz Quliyev," Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Press Secretary Leyla Abdullayeva told the Interfax-Azerbaijan agency on 5 February.

Artak Nersisyan, the head of the department for information and ties with the public of the Artsakh foreign ministry, commented on the statement of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, which says that Azerbaijan expects Armenia to release two more Azerbaijani citizens – Sahbaz Quliyev and Dilqam Asgarov.

Nersisyan believes that "Azerbaijan's appeal to Armenia is baseless".

"As regards the Azerbaijani criminals convicted in Artsakh, Baku should definitely directly address Stepanakert, which expressed readiness back in December of the past year to consider as a gesture of free will within the frames of law the possibility of the early release of citizen Elnur Huseynzada, who has not committed a grievous or extremely grievous crime on the territory of Artsakh," Nersisyan told Tert.am.

Nersisyan noted that "issues related to persons, who committed grievous crimes, are considered at another level".

He reminded that Asgarov and Quliyev "were found guilty of kidnapping and killing a minor because of ethnic hatred and a number of other crimes".

"At the same time, the Artsakh republic foreign ministry urged Baku to take a step from the opposite direction and free Armenian hostages kept in Azerbaijan, first and foremost those, who have obvious health problems," he noted, adding that "the Azerbaijani side rejected the proposal".

Artsakh justice minister Ararat Daniyelyan also said previously that it was impossible to exchange Asgarov and Quliyev.

Helsinki Initiative-92 Committee Head Karen Ohanjanyan told Kavkazsky Uzel that representatives of the committee periodically visited the Azerbaijani citizens in the penitentiary facility and that they were kept in conditions corresponding to international standards.

A representative of the opposition National Revival party of Artsakh, Tigran Grigoryan, described Azerbaijan's statement as "ridiculous".

"Any proposal to exchange or release the criminals is simply absurd," the political analyst told Kavkazsky Uzel on 11 February.

He noted that "I agree with the foreign ministry that Azerbaijan should apply" to the Artsakh government.

"However, I do not think that the foreign ministry or the government of Artsakh intend to seriously discuss the exchange of Azerbaijani saboteurs for anyone, but I agree with this as a principle, particularly as Armenian Prime Minister [Nikol Pashinyan] said that Artsakh must represent its own interests," Grigoryan noted.

"Azerbaijan has the right to make statements it wants to make, but it is another thing that they are absurd," said PhD in history Arevik Petrosyan, the chair of Vita, a civic organisation for assisting wounded fighters of the Artsakh army.

"Azerbaijani citizens Asgarov and Quliyev committed crimes against the people of Artsakh and they are punished for that," she told Kavkazsky Uzel.

As regards the comments of the Artsakh foreign ministry, Petrosyan noted that "it does not matter, who Azerbaijan addresses".

"I cannot see any difference here. I think that the statement by Azerbaijan was addressed to Armenians in general and Asgarov and Quliyev committed crimes against the Armenian people," she said.

"It is incorrect to compare crimes committed by Elnur Huseynzada with the crimes committed by saboteurs Asgarov and Quliyev," said Artur Tovmasyan, the head of the Homeland faction in the Artsakh national assembly.

"Huseynzada crossed the state border, but admitted his guilt, while Asgarov and Quliyev penetrated for sabotage purposes, committed a number of other crimes, and are guilty of the deaths of people, including a minor. Therefore, they were convicted in strict conformity with the law. So it is extremely immoral … [ellipsis as published] to speak about the possibility of their release or exchange," he told Kavkazsky Uzel.

The politician also thinks that on this problem, Azerbaijan should address the Artsakh government, not Armenia.