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Armenia not to join BSEC Secretary-General’s election in Baku

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Armenia will not attend the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization’s (BSEC) upcoming meeting in Baku to participate in the election of its Secretary-General, says the head of the National Assembly’s delegation.In a speech addressig the parliament, Gagik Minasyan noted that the delegation had earlier warned the BSEC leadership of such a decision in case of a choice for the Azerbaijani capital.

“We said was that the [BSEC] Bureau would deprive Armenia of participation in its president’s election in case they hold [the meeting] in Baku. But they opted for an unbalanced decision,” he noted.Armenia took over the organization’s six-month chairmanship last week on the sidelines of its plenary session held in Tirana, Albania.

 

The organization is to hold a ministerial session in Yerevan on June 27. The event will bring together delegations from all the BSEC member-states, including Azerbaijan and Turkey. In comments to Tert.am eaerlier today, the Foreign Ministry’s press secretary, Tigran Balayan, said the countries will participate in the meeting on the level of a deputy foreign minister and a senior foreign ministry representative, respectively.

BSEC Declaration on Regional Conflicts amended ‘without Armenia’s consent’

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The Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) Parliamentary Assembly adopted in its plenary session in Kiev amendments to its Declaration on Regional Conflicts in an unprecedented move not previously agreed with the Armenian delegates

Before the start of the Assembly’s 50th jubilee session in Ukraine’s capital, the heads of all the participant countries’ delegations conducted a private meeting with the BSEC secretary general and the head of Ukraine’s national delegation to discuss the passage of the measure. But Armenia was not invited to join the debate, the National Assembly’s press service reports, considering the attitude insulting for not only Armenia but also all the participant countries’ delegations.

According to an official statement condemning the incident, the amendment, incorporated into the document in breach of the acceptable code of ethics, also runs counter to the fundamental norms and principles of international law (territorial integrity, non-use of force and threat of force, and peoples’ right to self-determination).

“No incident of the kind had ever occurred in the past 25 years of the Assembly’s history. We evaluate the practice as a breach of the organization’s traditions and essence. Such a workstyle is unacceptable and condemnable for any parliamentary delegation. As a sign of protest, the Armenia delegation walked away from the session,” reads the statement.

The Armenian delegates also warn the other national delegations against yielding to provocation “to avoid subordinating the organization’s goals and objectives to individual countries’ political interests”. They further make a strong call for condemning the practice and returning to a constructive cooperation “underlying the Assembly’s essence and traditions”.