Experts: Seyran Ohanyan’s new position won’t change much (video)
Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan may head the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in the near future. The Defense Ministry neither rejects nor confirms this news published by Russian Interfax agency, which cites its source in the Armenian Government. The government representative isn’t aware of the possible appointment, too. “At present I cannot mention anything connected concrete with candidacy, but you can be sure that the candidate will be a representative from Armenia,” says Koryun Nahapetyan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs. The right to hold the position of the CSTO Secretary General on rotation basis can be transferred to each member state of the organization. Whether Seyran Ohanyan or someone else will be the representative from Armenian in that position, will be announced on October 14 at the CSTO Council session to be held in Yerevan. “Of course the appointment of a representative from Armenia in the position of the CSTO Secretary General is beneficial for us, but we shouldn’t exaggerate and think that we can expect the most beneficial solutions for us in all the issues only with that fact,” says Mr Nahapetyan. Armenian political experts aren’t excited about the fact of having Armenian representative in the position of the CSTO Secretary General. According to their assessment, after that the union isn’t likely to toughen its stance in case of another aggression by Azerbaijan on the borders of Armenia. Sergey Minasyan notes, “We should understand that we shouldn’t have too many expectations from the CSTO. For us the CSTO is significant with the fact that it is connected with bilateral Armenian-Russian military and military-technical relations.” Political expert Ruben Mehrabyan explains, “Statement can be made on behalf of the CSTO, when that statement is approved by all the member states of the CSTO. Taking into account the member states of that structure, we must realistically assess those chances.” The experts note that this appointment will not influence NATO-Armenia relations. NATO states clearly realize that whoever Secretary General is, except for Russia no state makes decisions in the CSTO.
