The BSEC

KIEV, Ukraine—Armenia’s parliamentary delegation, which was in Kiev to attend the parliamentary assembly of the Organization for Black Sea Economic Cooperation, on Wednesday walked out of the building where the meeting was being held in protest against being excluded from a session, which reportedly adopted a resolution that went counter to the positions of Armenia.

In an announcement the Armenia’s delegation described the incident as an “offense” toward Armenia and calling it “an unprecedented incident.”

.The Armenian delegation described in detail the turn of events, which led to the protest walk out. Below is the text of the statement.

“At the start of the 50th session of the Assembly, when members of the delegations were waiting in the hall for about an hour, it turned out that the heads of all the delegations separated and were discussing some issues at the initiative of PA BSEC Secretary General and the head of the Ukrainian delegation.

Only the head of Armenian delegation was not invited to that discussion. We describe this as an offense not only to the Armenian delegation, but also to all the delegations and the structure in general.

There has never been such a case during a 25-year history of the PA BSEC, and we perceive this as a violation of the tradition and essence of the structure. Such a working style is unacceptable and must be condemned in relation to any Parliamentary Assembly. As a sign of protest, the Armenian delegation left the assembly hall.

Later, it became apparent that, as a result of the above-mentioned discussion, there was a change in the declaration with regards to the regional conflicts which fully contradicts the principle of international law: non-use of force and threat of force, territorial integrity and the right of peoples to self-determination.

The Armenian delegation to the PA BSEC calls on all delegations to refrain from provocations, to stop serving the economic interests of some countries, to abandon this kind of practice and return to a constructive cooperation framework that stems from the essence and traditions of the PA BSEC,” the statement reads.

he Heads of delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) held a closed-door discussion today without the participation of the Armenian delegate and adopted an amendment to one of the provisions of the final declaration related to existing conflicts, the Armenian delegation to BSEC PA said in a statement.

As a sign of protest, the Armenian delegation left the hall in Ukraine’s capital Kiev, where BSEC PA was convening its 50th plenary session.