Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan
YEREVAN”” During a press briefing on September 6, Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan discussed a variety of issues concerning the rights of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the recent statement made about the Chinari village incident, and the recent scandal involving the Azerbaijani delegation in PACE.
When commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warning the United States against supplying defensive weapons to Ukraine, Kocharyan told reporters that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs should have the ability within their capacity to impose an arms embargo in conflict zones.
Russia’s arms sales to Azerbaijan as an indication of the country’s reluctance to establish peace in the Karabakh conflict was an issue that was brought up during the press briefing. Kocharyan explained that in regards to the Karabakh case, Russia would argue that if they did not provide arms, then other states would. He proposed that the concept of Co-Chairs having the ability as permanent members of the UN Security Council to impose a general arms embargo in conflict zones would rule out any justifications such as ”˜if not us others would supply.’
The Deputy Foreign Minister acknowledged the difficulties in reaching a respective decision at the Security Council, but didn’t rule it as impossible.
In regards to the statement on the Chinari village incident, Kocharyan stressed that any statement on incidents at the border must be targeted, and not by the mediators, but by an investigative commission.
Kocharyan added that the primary purpose of the proposed investigative mechanism is to make it clear who was responsible for the incident and to have statements targeted by an investigative commission. “It is no coincidence that Azerbaijan is hindering the formation of this mechanism, despite it has assumed this commitment in St. Petersburg and Vienna,”
