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The secretary of the opposition Pativ Unem faction in the Armenian parliament, Tigran Abrahamyan, on Wednesday delivered remarks at the session of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Political Affairs and International Cooperation on the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) caused by Azerbaijan.

“As you know, Azerbaijan is making territorial claims against Armenia, a CSTO founding-member, and threatens to launch a new war in case of non-compliance with them,” Abrahamyan said, adding that the threats are coupled with provocations against Armenia and Artsakh.

He stated that accepting Azerbaijan’s demands would lead to Azeri control over large swaths of territory and numerous settlements of CSTO-member Armenia.

“Regrettably, an Armenian soldier was killed in such a provocation this week. In a separate case, the Azerbaijani military opened fire at a vehicle of Russian troops, as a result of which two soldiers were hospitalized,” the MP said.

“The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is much worse,” he state, pointing to the Azeri shootings at civilians and the murder of three police officers in an Azeri ambush in early March.

Abrahamyan also underscored that the Azerbaijani military breached the line of contact and advanced into the territory in Nagorno-Karabakh and occupied a height near an inter-community road in yet another gross violation of the 9 November 2020 statement.

“The dynamics of the latest developments shows that Azerbaijan is preparing for a new aggression in the region, which means that the CSTO could also be drawn into war,” Abrahamyan stressed.

“I would like to recall the CSTO leaders’ joint statement of 14 October 2016 which stipulates the principle of the non-use of force or the threat of force in the settlement of the Artsakh issue. I think we all should work on preventing such a scenario and force Azerbaijan to abandon its intentions through concrete measures,” he added.