Wednesday, November 23 2022 11:44

ArmInfo.The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum's Armenian National Platform  (hereinafter, EaP CSF ANP) expresses its deep concern related to the  Collective Security Treaty Organization (hereinafter, CSTO) upcoming  meeting on November 23, 2022, in Yerevan.

Below is a statement by the EaP CSF ANP, which reads, in particular: 

"Recent geopolitics and regional developments have shown that CSTO  actions do not respond to the security challenges of the members of  that structure, but instead often serve the internal political  agendas of some countries and serve the purpose of reproducing  political regimes. Thus, In January, the CSTO, upon Kazakhstan's  request sent its "peacekeeping" forces to that country to carry out  functions that by their nature were not related to peacekeeping,  meanwhile, when on May 12, 2021, and then on September 12-14, 2022,  Armenia became the target of the aggression of Azerbaijan's  dictatorial regime, and around 150 square kilometers of its  territories were occupied, and hundreds of soldiers and civilians  were killed, wounded, captured, tortured and shot, which was  documented and spread and circulated by the Azerbaijani army  soldiers, no CSTO country condemned either Azerbaijan's aggression  against Armenia, the occupation of its territories, or the war crimes  committed against Armenian citizens. 

"At the same time, Armenia's western partners: the European Union and  co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - US and France - stood out with  active steps aimed at protecting the sovereignty and security of  Armenia. They, among other actions, also condemned the  above-mentioned encroachments against Armenia. The aggression against  Armenia was stopped with the mediation of the USA, and European Union  civilian observers were deployed on the eastern border of Armenia to  restrain the further aggressive ambitions of the Aliyev regime.

"We also highly appreciate the attitude of those progressive  representatives of the Azerbaijani society, who condemned the  aggression against Armenia and the unleashing of a new war, which  inspires hope for the prospect of peaceful coexistence between the  two peoples.

"Whereas during the session of the UN Security Council convened on  September 15, the representative of CSTO member Russia was the only  one who actually defended and justified Azerbaijan's aggression  against CSTO member Armenia and the occupation of its territories,  calling it "difficulties of border delimitation". Only after the  consistent demands of the Armenian authorities, with a delay of 2  months, the CSTO recognized the occupation of the Armenian  territories. At the same time when during the last online session of  the CSTO, the Prime Minister of Armenia proposed to draw up a road  map regarding the withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from the territory  of Armenia, the President of Belarus Lukashenko, who is taking over  the chairmanship of the CSTO, made a clear public statement,  announced that no such road map can be drawn up, because "Ilham  Aliyev is our man". All this gives reason and leads to thinking that  Azerbaijan's aggression against Armenia was planned together with the  Kremlin and was directed against not only Armenia's territorial  integrity but also its independence and sovereignty.

"CSTO members Russia and Belarus are the main suppliers of offensive  weapons to Azerbaijan, which has carried out aggression against  Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh for the third time since 1991.  Meanwhile, Russia still refuses to deliver the weapons Armenia bought  from it in 2020 under the CSTO regulations. To this should be added  the fact that a number of CSTO member countries congratulated  Azerbaijan "on the occasion of the victory" in 2020 after the  latter's aggression and ethnic cleansing against the people of  Nagorno-Karabakh.

"In addition, CSTO member Russia has unleashed an unprovoked and  aggressive war against Ukraine, occupying a large part of its  territories, killing tens of thousands of its citizens, making about  10 million people refugees or internally displaced persons,  committing many other crimes and causing sufferings to the people of  Ukraine, which condemned by the Eastern Partnership Civil Society  Forum, its Armenian National Platform, and many other international  organizations of repute. In this regard, we also consider it  unacceptable that the state TV stations of the Russian Federation  spread xenophobia and war propaganda through the public multiplex in  the territory of the Republic of Armenia, which is prohibited by the  RA Constitution and laws.

"Based on the above, as well as having the conviction that Armenia's  place is not in the club of authoritarian regimes, but in the  European family of democratic countries, the national platform of the  EaP CSF Armenia demands from the Armenian Government:

"1. After conducting the necessary preparatory work, withdraw Armenia  from the CSTO.

"2. To prohibit the broadcasting of the state television stations of  the Russian Federation in the territory of the Republic of Armenia,  primarily through the public multiplex.

"3. To enhance negotiations with Western partners in order to deepen  military and security cooperation and ensure the security of our  country.

"4. To reopen and enhance negotiations with the European Union in  order to join the Association Agreement with the EU and the Deep and  Comprehensive Free Trade Area."