ADDS REMARKS BY ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER
By Burc Eruygur
ISTANBUL (AA) - Armenia will withdraw from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Wednesday.
“We will leave (the CSTO), are you scaring me with this? Everything is fine with us, we will decide when we leave. What do you think is the next step, can we go back? Don’t worry,” Pashinyan said in response to a remark by an opposition lawmaker in parliament.
Pashinyan argued that members of the Russia-led military alliance are not fulfilling their obligations under the treaty, but are rather "planning a war against us with Azerbaijan."
The CSTO alliance, formed in 2002, consists of six post-Soviet states -- Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
Yerevan, said to be distancing itself from Moscow, has accused the Russia-led military bloc for failing to prevent Azerbaijan from liberating its internationally recognized territories, which had been occupied by Armenia for more than 30 years.
Pashinyan also touched on peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia, saying an agreement could be signed within a month. "The text of the peace agreement is quite mature, all that remains is to adjust the final touches and sign,” he added.
Relations between Baku and Yerevan have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven surrounding regions.
Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement and opened the door to normalization and talks on delimitation and demarcation.
Last September, Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh following an "anti-terrorist operation" after which separatist forces in the region surrendered.