Parliament President says CSTO could decide to “withdraw from Armenia”

PanARMENIAN.Net - President of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan has said that “it is very possible” that the CSTO will decide to “withdraw from Armenia.”

Simonyan made the remarks on Tuesday, October 4 – ahead of his trip to Moscow where issues associated with the CSTO will also be discussed – when asked whether Armenia was planning to withdraw from the organization.

“It is very possible that the CSTO will make a decision to withdraw from Armenia, because if that structure does not give us a proper response, I continue to think that we should consider [the matter] for a long time,” Sominyan told reporters.

“But at the same time, these are no games, we shouldn’t make quick and abrupt moves without understanding what we are going to do next, but I will raise the fact that there is a problem.”

The lawmaker said the sides will also discuss the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, and why Armenia has not received any response from Russia, “even a ‘no’”, to an earlier request for assistance, when Azerbaijan attacked the sovereign territory of the country.

The latest round of fighting between the two countries began in the wee hours of September 13, when the Azerbaijani military attacked Armenian posts and shelled Armenian settlements both on the border and deep behind the frontline. More than 200 people are dead or missing as a result, the Security Council of Armenia said on Monday.