Kiro Manoyan: Armenia is likely to lose the post of secretary general  in CSTO

ArmInfo.Armenia most likely will lose the post of Secretary General in the CSTO. This opinion is shared by the head of the Hay Dat central office and on political  issues of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Kiro Manoyan.

"Like our Minister of Defense, I consider that Armenia should  maintain the post of Secretary General until the end of the term, but  I'm not sure that other CSTO members share the position of the  Armenian side," Manoyan said at a press conference in Yerevan on  November 7, adding that this is primarily due to the behavior of  Armenia itself, as the Organization believes that Yerevan showed  disrespect for the CSTO when, without certain procedures and  notifications, started a case against its Secretary General. "I  believe that the rest of the CSTO members will speak out against  preserving the post of secretary general for Armenia, and the  Belarusian candidate will take it," he said.

Touching upon the possible membership in the organization of  Azerbaijan, the Dashnaktsutyun member expressed conviction that as  far as Armenia remains this structure, this will not happen.  Moreover, he believes that Azerbaijan is more eager to "put up  sticks" and try to harm Armenia in any way than to actually join the  CSTO. At the same time, Manoyan believes that to some extent Russia  will benefit from this situation, which, by helping to promote this  issue, is trying to flirt with Azerbaijan.

To note, Kommersant, citing its sources, reported that the CSTO is  discussing the appointment of Head of the Security Council of Belarus  Stanislav Zas as Secretary General of the CSTO, but the leaders of  the Alliance countries will make the final decision on November 8 in  Astana. As one of the interviewees told Kommersant, a variant was  initially discussed that suggested that Mr. Semerikov be appointed an  acting officer for a year and a half - that is, for a period that  Yuri Khachaturov did not finish. However, according to the source, it  was decided to appoint a full-fledged head of the secretariat. At the  same time, he says, it was decided to be guided by the principle of  rotation. According to him, after Armenia, the secretary general  should be appointed by Belarus, following the alphabet.  To note,  Khachaturov left this post on November 2 at the request of Armenia.

To recall, CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov is accused of  overthrowing the constitutional order in the so-called "March 1, 2008  case." At that time he held the post of the head of the Yerevan  garrison. By a court decision of July 28, he was arrested and then  released on bail in the amount of 5 million drams. The second  Armenian President Robert Kocharyan is alos accused within the same  case, as well as the former head of the Ministry of Defense of  Armenia Mikael Harutyunyan who is on the wanted list. On August 2,  the Special Investigative Service stated that the measure of  restraint chosen against Yuri Khachaturov is not an obstacle for him  to leave Armenia for some time. At the same time, the SIS did not  detail the permissible period of his absence.  Official Yerevan  proposed CSTO counterparts to consider the possibility of replacing  the CSTO Secretary General from Armenia in connection with the  criminal prosecution of Yuri Khachaturov. Currently, according to the  spread information, Armenia should submit the candidacy of former  Minister of Defense Vagharshak Harutyunyan for this post, but Yerevan  has not yet commented on this information.  Acting Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan will fly to Astana tomorrow to attend a meeting of  the CSTO Council, at which the issue of the Secretary General will be  discussed.