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    Categories: 2018

Artsakh’s Security and Status Are Priority, Foreign Minister tells CSTO

Armenia’s Acting Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan speaks at the CSTO Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan on Nov. 8, 2018

ASTANA, Kazakhstan—Armenia’s Acting Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan told his colleagues at a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization that Artsakh’s security and status are priorities in Armenia’s foreign policy and reiterated Yerevan’s commitment to resolving the Karabakh conflict exceptionally in a peaceful way under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

Mnatsakanyan also raised the issue of Artsakh’s direct participation in the peace talks.

He attached importance to the meeting between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan during the CIS Summit in Dushanbe and the agreements reached therein. He said that if implemented the agreements will contribute to the establishment of an atmosphere conducive to the peace process.

Mnatsakanyan stressed the need to reject warlike rhetoric, noting that it leads to the growth of enmity and establishment of an atmosphere of distrust in the region. He noted that the arms race is worrisome and does not contribute to the conflict resolution issue.

Mnatsakhanyan said that Yerevan attached great importance to joint and comprehensive efforts targeted at fighting radicalism and international terrorism.

He also expressed concern over the situation in the Middle East, particularly in Syria, as well as on the challenges facing ethnic and religious minorities in the region as a result of activity of terrorist groups.

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