CSTO member states not to ignore trust in Azerbaijan Caliber.Az interview with Kazakh political analyst

The Armenian armed forces, once again violating the tripartite statement, intensively shelled the positions and units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in various directions on September 12 night. The Azerbaijani army was ready for this provocation and met the uninvited "guests" as it was required.

Once again demonstrating its military incompetence, Armenia resorted to traditional methods, trying to put political pressure on Azerbaijan with the help of third countries and international organisations. Besides various politicians, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan even complained to the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) which is noteworthy. The fact is that the CSTO member states, besides Armenia itself, are Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. Yerevan’s appeal for military support to the CSTO is unlawful as it is the initiator of the escalation of the situation and the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia is not delimited, Baku has close and fruitful bilateral relations with almost all member states of this military bloc.

The Kazakh Foreign Ministry has already made a statement on this issue. Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi told reporters on September 14 that the issue of a possible dispatch of peacekeepers from Kazakhstan to Armenia amid the aggravation of the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border was not considered.

“Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan informed the leaders of the CSTO member states about the situation on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia at an extraordinary meeting of the CSTO meeting on September 13. In general, the information has been accepted. Of course, we wanted to get objective information, because different information comes from both sides. Therefore, in general, the leaders decided that the CSTO secretary general should go to the site, get full information on the spot and then inform the leaders,” Tleuberdi said.

Kazakh political analyst Zamir Karazhanov, in an interview with a correspondent of Caliber.Az, noted that Armenia's request to the CSTO does not yet mean that it will be fulfilled.

“In fact, the situation is more complicated than it might seem. It is still unclear what exactly happened on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Moreover, the situation between Azerbaijan and Armenia will remain tense until borders are delimited and demarcated, until the sides sign a peace treaty, which should determine the principles of relations between the two countries. The main thing is that the clashes should be local and not lead to full-scale war.

As for the CSTO’s reaction to Yerevan’s appeal, the organisation must, first of all, assess the incident. Moreover, sending troops to other country costs much. This is routine work that requires prompt decision-making. It is easier to stop an armed incident. It is necessary to create a working group, including that one at the level of foreign ministries, and come to an agreement with Azerbaijan,” the Kazakh expert said.

Karazhanov noted that it is necessary to take into account trust in Baku.

“After all, Russia, Kazakhstan and other CSTO member states have good, working relations with Azerbaijan. This level of trust makes it possible to discuss such issues with the Azerbaijani leadership. As is known, all CSTO member states, except Armenia, have trade and economic relations with Azerbaijan, there are mutual investments and a certain volume of trade in bilateral relations. In other words, all these points of interaction will suffer if these countries, only on the basis of Armenia's statement, even within the CSTO, act against Azerbaijan. In principle, now no one is interested in reacting to Yerevan's statement,” the analyst said.