YEREVAN WELCOMES NATO DECISION TO TRANSFER PRIORITIES TO SOUTH CAUCASUS

NATO’s decision to transfer its priorities to the South Caucasus and Central Asia will impose new obligations on Turkey – the only member-state of the Alliance in the region – which will impart effectiveness in this initiative by demonstrating positive and equal engagement, Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanian stated when addressing yesterday the sitting of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership in Istanbul. To note, yesterday NATO summit participants adopted the resolution which says that from now on the regions of the South Caucasus and Central Asia will be in the focus of NATO’s attention and its member-states. As it was reported by the press service of the Armenian MFA, the document also records of developing cooperation and dialogue between NATO and South Caucasian states in references to a number of political issues of security and reformation of defense systems of the countries of the region on the example of NATO member-states as well as of involving the South Caucasian countries into the measures initiated by the Alliance. In his speech V. Oskanian mentioned of the groundlessness of the accusations produced at the summit by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev referring to the refugees from the “seized territories” and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. At the same time Oskanian viewed the situation created round the Nagorno Karabakh conflict as the consequence of Azerbaijan’s aggression emphasizing that Nagorno Karabakh was never a part of independent Azerbaijan.