Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Armenia is openly discreditting the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), as Yerevan still refuses to accept the Belarusian candidate Stanislav Zas to the CSTO Secretary General post and does not respond to requests for a meeting.

A session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (COM) of the CSTO countries members will be held in Bishkek in late May.

Armenian proposals on changing the organization’s charter can be agreed at the session. If the ministers approve the proposed changes, CSTO leaders will submit the bill for approval. CSTO leaders will meet at the Collective Security Council session in the fall.

The essence of the amendments to the charter proposed by Armenia is to prescribe the procedure for the early termination of authorities of the current secretary general. Yerevan proposes that this position should be occupied by a representative of the country from which he was appointed on a rotational basis before the expiration of the three-year mandate.

Until 2020, Russian representative Valery Semerikov performs the duties of the organization’s Secretary General. In 2020, the post of Secretary General for three years will be transferred to Belarus.

The problem arose after an unexpected arrest CSTO Secretary General, Yuri Khachaturov in summer 2018 in Yerevan. Armenia recalled the organization’s charter and recalled its representative. Although the country should have called a representative only after Khachaturov was released on bail under Moscow pressure.

Tensions between Armenia and the CSTO countries arose after Armenia initiated and recalled Yuri Khachaturov from the post of CSTO Secretary General on October 30, without having previously coordinated these procedures with other partners in the Organization.

The court of general jurisdiction of Yerevan made a decision to arrest the second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharian, for two months in the case of the events of March 1, 2008, on the night of July 28. He is accused of overthrowing the constitutional order of preliminary agreement with other persons. CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, who was released on bail of 5 million drams ($10,400), and former Armenian Defense Minister Mikael Harutyunyan, who is currently on the wanted list, were also charged as the accused. Armenian side initiated the procedure for recalling Khachaturov from the CSTO Secretary General post on August 1.

Yerevan expected that the Secretary General post was inherited by Armenia and the country is free to dispose of it. Therefore, after Khachaturov’s recall, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan began to look for a substitute for him from Armenia.

However, other organization members did not approve such behavior by Yerevan and a general decision was taken to transfer the post of the Secretary General to Belarus, not waiting for its turn. Spokesman for the Belarus Foreign Ministry, Anatoly Glaz stressed at the press conference at the beginning of this year, five of the six CSTO members supported the candidacy of the Belarus candidate Stanislav Zas.

The candidate from Belarus visited all member countries, except Armenia, and received the support of top officials. In Armenia, he was never accepted and does not respond to requests for a meeting. Yerevan decided to push its position to the end.

At the same time, as follows from Zas’s reply to journalists, CSTO Charter provides for the possibility of making decisions by a limited composition. However, the organization did not go for it, in order not to aggravate the situation, and continues to wait for the Armenian authorities to enlighten the mind. In turn, the Armenian authorities are busy developing amendments to the CSTO charter. It’s just not clear why this delay is needed - if the changes are approved in the fall, time to hold the post of organization’s secretary general will end anyway for Armenia.

Besides, CSTO states also do not express support to Yerevan in the Karabakh problem context - all organization members support the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The organization does not want to get involved in a conflict between two warring states. CSTO's position is inadmissibility to conduct military operations in the Nagorno-Karabakh zone.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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