Parliament member of Armenia Tevan Poghosyan (Source: Tert.am)

YEREVAN (Tert.am)— In an interview with Tert.am, Tevan Poghosyan, a member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, Parliament of Armenia, commented on the statement by Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Nikolay Bordyuzha, who stressed a need to prevent further escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Poghosyan believes that Bordyuzha’s statement was a follow-up to Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian’s statement following the CSTO Summit in Moscow.

“Every time when the armed forces of Azerbaijan use guns, rocket mortars, or artillery against the Republic of Armenia, they are firing at Astana, Dushanbe, Bishkek, Moscow, and Minsk,” Sarkisian said.

“What attracted my attention in his statement is when he mentioned that it was time to invest the structure’s political resources in preventing escalation in the region. It means that they may have come to realize that the CSTO should make political statements as well,” Poghosyan said.

If the CSTO is to be perceived as an institution, it has to reform and follow NATO’s example.

The CSTO still needs time to be perceived as a collective security structure.

“We should consider the fact Armenia is now a chairing country and has agreed Bordyuzha to continue as CSTO Secretary General for a year. Therefore, Bordyuzha is seeking to justify his remaining in office,” Poghosyan said.

When asked whether the CSTO’s somewhat active behavior is not in any way linked to the deteriorating Russia-Turkey relations, Poghosyan replied, “Instead of being concerned of the cause behind the motive, we should use such an opportunity once we have it. If Armenia can – due to the strain in the Russia-Turkey relations – pursue the right policies to push ahead with Armenian interests, that shouldn’t cause us to feel shy or restrained. We must use all the mechanisms in the interests of strengthening Armenia and developing its security.”

As to a possible statement on behalf of the CSTO, Poghosyan said he doesn’t find it to be a primary concern. “Despite everything, I fully rely on our army, the armed forces of Artsakh and of the Republic of Armenia,” he said.