ANOTHER FIASCO

It would be a mistake not to take advantage of the convenient circumstances, the Armenian leadership thought and insisted that an extraordinary session of the Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) should be held in Moscow. It was also planned to do so in Yerevan in the second half of 2016.

Armenia decided that things are going well for them right now: damaged relations between Turkey and Russia, the presidency of the CSTO and the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council scheduled for 21 December. The composition of the Eurasian Council is the same as that of the CSTO - Russia, Belarus, Kazak-hstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia with the only difference being that the military alliance also includes Tajikistan.

Nobody prevents Armenia from exercising its right to convene an extraordinary council, which they did, hoping to use favourable geopolitical conditions to enlist support for their expansionist actions on the territory of Azerbaijan.

Preparations were thorough. Argu-ments that could persuade the military bloc partners to recognize Yerevan's position on the settlement of the Karabakh problem were carefully chosen.

Moreover, the impression is that Armenia itself does not believe in the long-term deterioration of relations between Russia and Turkey and is trying to hasten the events. Already on 9 December - immediately after the meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization's Military Com-mittee - its chairman, Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces Yuriy Khachaturov, hastened to declare that his counterparts supported Russia's position in the conflict with Turkey and like Russia, they regard the downing of the Su-24 by the Turkish military as a "stab in the back". According to him, all the chiefs of staff of CSTO member countries characterized these actions as "despicable" aggression by Turkey.

But the thing is that the Ministries of Defence of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan were quick to deny that, saying that they had not empowered Khachaturov to make statements on their behalf. Moreover, these countries stated that they still consider Turkey as a strategic partner.

Apparently, the statement of the Armenian general alarmed Russia and other members of the military alliance. How else can one explain the cancellation of the practically decided appointment of a representative of Armenia to the post of CSTO secretary general? But first things first.

So, on 21 December, an extraordinary summit of the Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization was held, as requested by Armenia. However, contrary to the established tradition, the meeting was held behind closed doors. Dosed and filtered information was available about the meeting. Subsequently, each of the parties published the speeches, but the debate itself, unfortunately, is not known.

We would like to see the reaction of the heads of state to Serzh Sargsyan's statement that the CSTO is losing its prestige. Of course, the Armenian president began his speech by calling the incident with the Russian aircraft "a serious challenge to efforts aimed at combating terrorism", from which he concludes that this action was committed not against Russia, but against all mankind fighting terrorism. And in such conditions, he develops his thought, all member countries of NATO supported Turkey, and on one single principle: "One for all and all for one."

"We need to learn this," said the fan of the film about D'Artagnan and moved on to the subject because of which he insisted on the extraordinary meeting. "Of course, each country has its own interests and its own priorities, but it should not contrast with our common interests and mutual obligations. Each time the Azerbaijani armed forces use small arms of all calibres, mortars and artillery against the Republic of Armenia, they shoot at Astana, Dushanbe and Bishkek, Moscow and Minsk." Then Sargsyan accused his counterparts not only of not being interested in what "is happening in allied Armenia" but also of voting "against the interests of an ally in international organizations" and adopting "bilateral declarations with third countries, the text of which is directed against CSTO allies".

The Armenian president would not have considered his task accomplished if he had not identified the axis of evil, against which, in his view, the CSTO should direct all its political, diplomatic, and if lucky, military resources: "Given the tense atmosphere evolving lately in the region, we should not exclude the possibility that Azerbaijan went for this step with tips and support from outside."

I imagine the picture of what happened next. Having finished his impassioned speech, the chairman (it is precisely Armenia that holds the presidency of the Collective Security Treaty Organization until September 2016) began to prepare for the debate.

But they did not follow. Instead, the fate of the next secretary general of the organization was resolved. The summit abandoned the intention to elect a representative of Armenia to this office, rightly thinking that this move could be interpreted as a desire to aggravate relations with Turkey. Nikolay Bordyuzha remained CSTO secretary general for another year.

The final statement of the CSTO "On counteraction to international terrorism" includes a lot of good and correct words about the need to "consolidate the efforts of the entire international community to combat terrorism effectively" and the incompatibility of "mass murders by terrorists of civilians, the barbaric destruction of historical monuments and the desecration of religious sanctities with the rules of mora-lity, humanism and spirituality". Howe-ver, there is no mention of Turkey or the incident with the downed Su-24 aircraft. The position on Syria is limited to words of support for the recent UN Security Council resolution on a political settlement in the country.

After the meeting, Serzh Sargsyan, as the head of the country holding the presidency (it should be noted that it is now just a formality) of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, told the press that the organization supports Russia in the Syrian conflict and "the incident with the Russian bomber does not contribute to the consolidation of international efforts aimed at combating terrorism, settling the situation in Syria and restoring peace in the region". As you can see, his previous statements were heavily edited. But even in this form, they were not included in the final document.

It would seem that we can put a full stop here. Another provocation of our restless neighbours failed. But it's worth elaborating on some of the passages from the speech of the Armenian president.

Firstly, the facts are falsified. When Sargsyan says that Azerbaijan uses weapons against Armenia, he does not specify that the attacks are carried out against the Armenian armed forces that are in the territory of Azerbaijan, i.e. occupation forces. Of course, everyone understands what he is talking about, but, nevertheless, lies are not being foiled.

Secondly, the CSTO members are openly accused of membership in other international organizations aimed against Armenia, an ally in this bloc. What is meant here is, for example, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Turkic Council and other organizations supporting Azerbai-jan in the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

In his report, Sargsyan also noted that NATO supported Turkey after the downing of the plane. Meanwhile, however, the North Atlantic bloc has made it clear to Turkey that it should resolve the conflict with Russia itself.

By the way, Armenia itself has been a member of the Individual Partnership Programme with NATO for more than 20 years, and no later than 10 December, they confirmed their willingness to participate in peacekeeping missions around the world in 2016.

In addition, during a meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimyan and First Deputy Defence Minister David Tonoyan talked about the progress of reforms in the armed forces of Armenia implemented by the Ministry of Defence, military education programmes, etc. Indeed, the CSTO countries have a really reliable ally.

And finally, on terrorism. This topic takes a considerable part of the report of the president of a country where one of the largest terrorist organizations in the world - Dashnaktsutyun - legally functions and is thoroughly represented in the ruling circles. And by the way, they also turned 125 in December of this year. And the same person, who stigmatized terrorists and their associates in Moscow on 21 December, congratulated the Dashnaks on the anniversary, noting that their "heroism is inscribed in the pages of the history of the Armenian people in golden letters".