“I feel great proud when I hear words of praise about the Armenian peacekeepers from my foreign partners, as well as Foreign Ministers and Defense Ministers. I am grateful to the Armenian servicemen, first of all to those who prepare those military groups, and of course, to those who are members of these groups, for keeping Armenia’s name and honor so high”, Serzh Sargsyan said.

He added that one of the key elements of Armenia’s security is the existing military alliance between Armenia and Russia. It has a very rich history and traditions since the Armenian and Russian servicemen have never been in different sides of the trenches.

“Nevertheless, any military alliance cannot be based on emotions only. That alliance is based on mutually understandable common interests and necessity. This is irreplaceable for maintaining stability in this region. Armenia will continue to fulfill all its allied duties both within the framework of the Armenian-Russian alliance, as well as the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). I want you all clearly understand that events, actions, speeches are being made within the CSTO that we don’t like at all, but the action, speech or behavior of a leader or representative of any CSTO member state can never be a basis for us to speak about the fact that Armenia’s membership to the CSTO has run out of the necessity. This is just impermissible”, the President said.

At the same time Armenia will continue to form an active positive agenda with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and its member states aimed at further strengthening the international peace and security.

The President said all these are important factors to neutralize Turkey’s unfriendly, if not hostile, policy towards Armenia.