Friday, July 8 2016 07:31

The statement of the Yerevan meeting of the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers reflects the Armenian side's stand on the Karabakh peace process, Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov said following the meeting of the Executive Body of the Republican Party of Armenia. 

He said that the statement clearly demonstrates the lack of alternative to the exercise of the principle of peoples' right to self-determination, as well as to the format of the OSCE Minsk Group as the mediator in the Karabakh peace process. "So, the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers made Ankara understand that its aspirations to join the OSCE Minsk Group are infeasible," Sharmazanov said. He also stressed that the document points out the need to implement the Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, but Baku objects to it. "It is noteworthy that the statement was signed even by the political partners of Azerbaijan, particularly, Kazakhstan," he said. 

He also praised the similarity of the stands of Moscow and Washington on the Karabakh conflict settlement, as well as the constant attention paid to this issue by the leaders of Russia and the United States.  The direct evidence of that is the recent telephone conversation between Putin and Obama, who discussed the Karabakh problem. He said that the co-chair countries have a similar stand. They are unanimous that the conflict should be resolved on the basis of the referendum on self-determination of Artsakh, which cannot be a part of Azerbaijan. Sharmazanov prompted Baku "how to fulfill the dream about planting the Azerbaijani flag in Stepanakert: "There is only one way to do it - Baku should recognize the independence of Artsakh, open an embassy in Stepanakert and plant its state flag on that building". 

To recall, following the summit of the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers in Yerevan, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the organization's member countries adopted a joint statement on Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, which reads as follows: "We voice support for the agreements reached on the summits on Nagorno-Karabkh problem held in Vienna on May 16 and Saint Petersburg on June 20, aimed at preventing escalation of the situation in the zone of conflict, stabilizing the situation and creating conditions for reaching progress in the peaceful process. Confirming the necessity of exclusively peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, we express support to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the settlement of the conflict based on the principles of the international law, UN Charter, provisions of Helsinki Final Act, particularly related to non-use of force or threat by force, territorial integrity of the states, equality and people's right to self-determination".