VARTAN OSKANIAN: THE COUNTRIES THAT VOTED FOR AZERBAIJAN’S RESOLUTION
IN UN HAVE IN FACT VOTED AGAINST NEGOTIATION PROCESS
MOSCOW, MARCH 29, NOYAN TAPAN. A regular sitting of the council of
foreign ministers of CIS member states took place in Moscow on March
28. The Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian also participated in
the sitting.
The sitting participants discussed a number of issues related to
multilateral cooperation of CIS member states for further development
of the CIS, in particular cooperation in such spheres as migration,
information security, fight against crime and drug trafficking, as well
as cooperation in the humanitarian sphere.
The foreign ministers of CIS member states approved the program of
events dedicated to celebration of 65th anniversary of the victory in
the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic war. They adopted the agenda of the
sitting of the council of government heads of CIS member states to be
held in Moscow on May 23. It was decided that the next siiting of the
council of foreign ministers of CIS member states will take place in
Bishkek on September 25.
An informal meeting of the council of foreign ministers of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) took place on the same
day. The issue of improving the comparison mechanism of CSTO member
states’ activities in foreign policy was discussed at the meeting.
The foreign ministers discussed issues related to development of the
army political situation within the framework of CSTO responsibility,
as well as issues of cooperation of the CSTO with the UN, the OSCE and
other regional organizations of the security sphere. In this connection
the problem of CSTO member states’ opposite positions on some issues at
international organizations became a subject of discussion. In his
speech the Armenian foreign minister addressed Azerbaijan-submitted
resolution which was recently passed at the UN General Assembly
session. V. Oskanian in particular said that although the indicated
resolution has no legal force, by getting this unilateral resolution
passed, the Azerbaijai side aims to reject the documents currently on
the negotiation table and to transfer the issue from the OSCE Minsk
Group to the UN, which will serously endanger the continuation of the
negotiation process. Armenia is concerned that the CSTO failed to take
a united position. According to V. Oskanian, the countries which voted
for this resolution in fact have voted against negotiation process.
V. Oskanian expressed a hope that henceforth the CSTO member states
will follow the principle of solidarity.
According to the RA MFA Press and Information Department, V. Oskanian
returns to Yerevan on March 29.