Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The situation around the CSTO continues to heat up as the scandal around the former secretary general of the organization turned the new appointment an unsolvable problem.

Political short-sightedness and inadequacy of the Armenian leader Nikol Pashinyan led to the fact that the CSTO was left without a secretary general for an indefinite time.

Armenians blame President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko for this situation. They claim that the Belarusians wanted to get the post of Secretary General and, in agreement with the Kazakhs, decided to oust the Armenians.

The problem with the prolonged appointment of the new CSTO Secretary General was not created by Belarus, stated President Alexander Lukashenko at the meeting with representatives of the Russian media community on December 14. "It is a shame that we cannot elect a chief officer of the CSTO," he said.

Lukashenko directly accused Nikol Pashinyan of the problem. This problem would never exist if this issue was resolved quietly. "But Nikol Pashinyan plunged us into internal political problems," the Belarusian president added.

Lukashenko made it clear that his country did not seek to take the post of secretary general. Just further alphabetically follows Belarus, so the president of Kazakhstan, and then Russia, supported this option. Moreover, as Lukashenko stated, Armenia was against it, but practically it was agreed. And then followed a sharp reaction from Nikol Pashinyan.

Finally, a wise Belarusian politician advised the head of Armenia to show wisdom in such matters.

The issue of appointing the CSTO Secretary General has been postponed indefinitely. At the request of the Armenian side, discussions scheduled for December 6 were also postponed. Pashinyan, as usual, denied everything and blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin of the delay.

Anyway, the situation is clearly developing not in favor of Armenia. Pashinyan really lacks wisdom and foresight, and indeed political experience to get out of the crisis without image losses. Although now it will certainly be very difficult. It would be much more reasonable to solve everything in Astana. Armenia would lose the post of secretary general, but it would save face. And now there will be neither one nor the other.

President Lukashenko touched upon the conversation with the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, where he responded to his dissatisfaction with the sale of weapons to Azerbaijan. He told Pashinyan that the top three arms exporters to Azerbaijan are Russia, Israel and Turkey. Belarus takes only the 4th place taking into account the export of Polonez. Thus, Lukashenko expressed bewilderment of Pashinyan for his criticism of Belarus on this issue.

Then Lukashenko said at a meeting with journalists that the voluntary return of seven regions around Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan as a compromise from the Armenian side could save Yerevan from excessive expenses and start the peace process. "When Serzh Sargsyan was the head of Armenia, I asked him, why should not the country, bending under the weight of its own unsolvable problems, ease its fate?" he said, adding that these regions are empty and Sargsyan should return them to Azerbaijan.

Lukashenko noted that this issue was discussed in Yerevan at one of the CSTO summits when Serzh Sargsyan was the President of Armenia. Lukashenko called on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to solve this problem together, making compromise decisions.

However, Sargsyan rejected Lukashenko’s voiced proposal.

Such a position of Sargsyan caused surprise to Lukashenko. "Why do not they want? Five regions are empty. This is the first step. And then both Azerbaijan and Armenia would be in the CSTO and EEU. It was a condition under which Azerbaijan can join these organizations. Why did you refuse?" the Belarusian leader stressed.

Indeed, the Belarusian President does not understand the way the Armenian colleague, who personally took part in ethnic cleansing and the Khojaly genocide, adheres. It is difficult for the leader of an established state to understand people who have never had statehood and suddenly received it on foreign lands.

Taking advantage of the chaos and anarchy in Azerbaijan in 1992-1993, Armenia does not have any idea what to do with occupied lands. To settle and rebuild the lands of others, it has neither financial nor human resources. Armenia itself is on the verge of depopulation. Both Sargsyan and others are well aware that no “security belt” will save the occupying army if Azerbaijan decides to use force. In Armenia, they still shudder, remembering how quickly and far Armenian soldiers and residents of front-line villages fled in April 2016. And it was only a counterattack, not an offensive operation.

It is worth noting that Nikol Pashinyan senses the situation more adequate than Sargsyan, and if there were no such fierce resistance of nationalists inside his own country, the situation could get off the ground. But how long will he stay in his post if he agrees to start a peaceful compromise process?

Now Nikol Pashinyan worries for his power, not realizing that, while maintaining the post, he is losing Armenia.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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