By Anna Vardanyan

Heated debates on keeping the mandate of the CSTO Secretary General continue in Armenia and the supreme authorities make clear statements that they are not going to concede this post to another country before the end of the set term.

On November 16, Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, during a briefing with journalists, stated that he is going to demand explanations from the Presidents of Belarus and Kazakhstan on the occasion of controversial statements and violations of prior agreements. Pashinyan was amazed by the fact that after a closed-door session of the CSTO Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has disclosed the details of discussed issues in the meeting with the Ambassador of Azerbaijan in Belarus. “It is a closed format session of the military-political alliance, a closed conversation between the allies. I am surprised that a man who has had the status of the head of state for 30 years would take such a step. Of course, I have to make clarifications on the statements from the President of Belarus and not only on his", Pashinyan noted.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia has taken a tough stance by defining Lukashenko's discussion with the Azerbaijani ambassador as “not correct”.

We should recall that the Belarusian president, during the meeting with the Azerbaijani ambassador to Belarus Latif Gandilov, has discussed the issue of appointing a representative of Belarus to the post of CSTO Secretary General, although Azerbaijan is not a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. During the aforementioned meeting, Alexander Lukashenko also assured that there are no taboo issues in the relations between Azerbaijan and Belarus. "Our agreements with President Ilham Aliyev are sacred for us" noted the Belarusian president, without specifying what particular agreements he meant.

At the briefing with journalists, Nikol Pashinyan noted that the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, also announced after the closed-doors session of the CSTO summit that a representative of Belarus will be appointed to be the CSTO Secretary-General, which is contradicting to their agreements.

“No one had the right to make such an announcement, since the CSTO’s decisions are based on consensus, and we have clearly expressed our position. As long as there is no decision based on a consensus, no one has the right to make such an announcement”, Nikol Pashinyan said. The acting Prime Minister informed that he raised these issues during his telephone conversation with the Russian President on November 16, assuring that they will continue their dialogue with all partners - Russia, Belarus,  Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to eventually reach a mutual understanding.

In his turn, RA Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan reaffirmed Armenia's position in an interview with Tass Russian news agency that Armenia has to retain the CSTO Secretary General’s position as they have good human resources for that. “The issue is based on the following facts: firstly, the regulatory framework does not provide for any specific decisions to resolve issues related to the impossibility of exercising the powers of the CSTO Secretary General; secondly, decisions are made by consensus, and thirdly – an agreement has to have the necessary authority and viability,” the acting Foreign Minister noted.

The Minsk’s response to Pashinyan’s statements followed immediately

On November 17, the spokesperson for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, A. Glaz, commented on the statement of the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.  “Apparently, the Acting Prime Minister of Armenia thinks he is an international prosecutor authorized to punish or pardon. Perhaps this was acceptable in the case of the former CSTO Secretary General, Armenian citizen Yuri Khachaturov. But in interstate relations there are quite clear rules of protocol and etiquette. Pashinyan has not yet realized that the rules of the so-called “street democracy” are not acceptable in big politics”, this was a corresponding comment that was published on the official website of the Foreign Ministry of Belarus.

The reaction from Minsk was considered as tough and even offensive by the Armenian political circles. According to some analysis, the crisis over the election of the new CSTO Secretary General has reached its culmination and grew into a diplomatic war between the nominal allies Armenia and Belarus. The editorial of 1in.am news-site wrote: “This is a truly complex dispute, which has deeper roots than just the irrelevant selection of the CSTO Secretary General’s office. The Armenian revolution could not have passed unnoticed in the Eurasian integration projects. Regardless of Nikol Pashinyan’s numerous announcements that the revolution has not changed the vector of Armenia's foreign policy, it is obvious that the historical event that has taken place in our country is met with hostility by the Eurasian authoritarian regimes”.

The political expert Ruben Melikyan, referred to the official Minsk response to the Acting Prime Minister Pashinyan’s statement in the following: “This is already a national problem, this not an acceptable behavior. What is meant by street democracy? This is our own domestic issue. The Minsk reaction was pretty tough and disproportionate. The statement of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs contained an insult and general arrogance towards us.”

The final decision over the appointment of the CSTO Secretary General will be made at the December 6 session in St. Petersburg.