Mirzoyan: Deepening relations with the West not directed against Russia
“For the first time, the EU, as an institution, participates in the issues related to Armenia’s security. After the deployment of this mission, the tension on the border has decreased significantly, it turns out that this mission has become a significant factor for the stability on the border,” Ararat Mirzoyan said at the Parliament’s Foreign Relations Standing Committee.
The foreign minister reaffirmed that Armenia has frozen its participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
“By now, it is unclear to us how our CSTO partners imagine their areas of responsibility in the South Caucasus. This raises questions for the Armenian side, and till we have no answers to these questions, we have frozen our participation to a certain extent,” he said.
According to the minister, Armenia made very active efforts to form the minimum mutually acceptable formulation with the CSTO partners, by which they could have addressed the developments around Armenia.
“Finally, we have seen that these efforts are not crowned with success. It’s not like everything was working normally and suddenly one day we decided to turn to the West, and hence problems arose. It is just the opposite: the issue we are dealing with is beyond our political differences. We are dealing with the possible loss of our country’s existence and sovereignty.
Armenia is not involved in any program against anyone. The deepening of our relations with the West and the EU is not directed against Russia, nor is it against our neighbors. Our goal is to increase Armenia’s security,” Ararat Mirzoyan said.
“For the first time, the EU, as an institution, participates in the issues related to Armenia’s security. After the deployment of this mission, the tension on the border has decreased significantly, it turns out that this mission has become a significant factor for the stability on the border,” Ararat Mirzoyan said at the Parliament’s Foreign Relations Standing Committee.
The foreign minister reaffirmed that Armenia has frozen its participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
“By now, it is unclear to us how our CSTO partners imagine their areas of responsibility in the South Caucasus. This raises questions for the Armenian side, and till we have no answers to these questions, we have frozen our participation to a certain extent,” he said.
According to the minister, Armenia made very active efforts to form the minimum mutually acceptable formulation with the CSTO partners, by which they could have addressed the developments around Armenia.
“Finally, we have seen that these efforts are not crowned with success. It’s not like everything was working normally and suddenly one day we decided to turn to the West, and hence problems arose. It is just the opposite: the issue we are dealing with is beyond our political differences. We are dealing with the possible loss of our country’s existence and sovereignty.
Armenia is not involved in any program against anyone. The deepening of our relations with the West and the EU is not directed against Russia, nor is it against our neighbors. Our goal is to increase Armenia’s security,” Ararat Mirzoyan said.