Armenia supports activity of OSCE Office in Yerevan: Tigran Balayan

Armenia supports the activity of the OSCE Office in Yerevan and always assists it, especially within the framework of respective decisions adopted in the OSCE, Tigran Balayan, spokesman of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told “Armenpress” commenting on the rumors over the closure of the OSCE Office in Yerevan.

“It is important to state that after the closure of the OSCE Office in Baku by the Azerbaijani leadership, the Yerevan Office is the only full presence of the OSCE in the South Caucasus. The role of the Yerevan Office is appreciated by the OSCE Chairmanship, Secretariat, other bodies of the organization, as well as by the absolute majority of the participating states, except one,” Balayan said. He highlighted that the OSCE operates by the principle of consensus, and despite the broad support, at the moment it was impossible to come to an agreement on the decision to extend the term of the Yerevan Office.

“Currently the OSCE Austrian chairmanship continues talks on reaching agreement over the draft decision, and Armenia, as a country hosting the Office, is part of those consultations. As the talks are underway, at this moment we do not find it appropriate to present details of the consultations,” he said.