CIS FOREIGN MINISTERS REJECT AZERBAIJAN’S PROPOSAL TO INCLUDE
PROVISION ON SEPARATISM IN DECISIONS ON FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM

MINSK, MARCH 21, NOYAN TAPAN. The delegation headed by the RA Deputy
Foreign Minister Gegham Gharibjanian paricipated in a regular sitting
of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the CIS member states in Minsk
on March 18. The sitting was chaired by the RF Foreign Minister,
Chairman of the Council Sergei Lavrov. The process of the work on
imrovement and reforms of the CIS structures was under discussion.
The document submitted was approved, a decision was made to continue
this process. According to the RA Foreign Ministry Press and
Information Department, during the discussion of the draft decision
on the concept of CIS member states cooperation in the fight against
terrorism and other violent manifestations of extremism, as well of the
draft decision on the program of CIS member states cooperation in the
fight against terrorism and other violent manifestations of extremism,
the Azeri side proposed to include a provision on “separatism” in the
documents, in which it was joined by the delegations of Ukraine,
Moldova and Georgia. The Armenian delegation’s head suggested
adopting the document in the version previously agreed by the
experts. He explained the Armenian position using the argument that
there is no internationally recognized notion of “separatism”. The
proposal of Azerbaijan was not accepted by the other CIS states and
was formulated as a reservation by the delegations of the 4 above
mentioned states. At the CIS Foreign Ministers’s Council sitting, the
RF delegation officially submitted a draft memorandum on the CIS member
states cooperation in the humanitarian sphere. After being dicussed in
the states, the draft will be submitted for discussion at an unofficial
summit of the heads of the CIS states to be held in Moscow on May 8.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress