Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Ararat Mirzoyan hopes that the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) partners will show a conscientious approach. Mirzoyan on Tuesday stated this during a joint press conference with his visiting Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen, answering a question about the latest EAEU report on Armenia.
The Armenian foreign minister noted that this document is quite extensive, and he does not agree with the stated grounds for a possible termination of EAEU membership. According to him, although the EAEU partners say that expulsion from the organization or freezing of membership is not provided for by the EAEU documents, it is possible under the Vienna Convention.
“Yes, there is such a thing—but from a very specific angle. The partner they are dissatisfied with must have violated the agreements or the obligations it has undertaken within the framework of the organization in order to say, ‘You have violated, thank you, goodbye.’ As you can see, Armenia has not violated anything and is not going to,” Mirzoyan stated.
The Armenian foreign minister noted that the EAEU partners have spared no effort to find legal grounds with which he does not agree.
“However, I do not want to avoid the issue either,” Mirzoyan continued, referring to the political side of the issue. “As for the political side, I will say we [i.e. Armenia] are conscientiously fulfilling the obligations we have assumed, and we hope that the [EAEU] partners, both within the framework of the organization and in the bilateral format, will fulfill their obligations equally conscientiously, although, unfortunately, in recent months we have seen the opposite.”
The minister of foreign affairs and international trade of Armenia noted that no matter how events develop, the basis of Armenia’s position and decisions will be statehood, its own interests, sovereignty and independence, as well as the right to make independent decisions—and they cannot become a subject of bargaining. The minister assured that Armenia strives for dialogue, but reiterated that Armenian statehood is at the core of decisions.
According to Article 13 of the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty, a member country can leave this organization only on its own initiative, which requires the consent of all other member countries. But the document does not provide for any option for removing a member country from this union against its will.