The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) could issue a statement on escalation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and on the Line of Contact only if Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan had requested, political analyst Modest Kolerov told Tert.am, as he commented on the Armenian leader’s latest criticism of the CSTO over its not responding to Azerbaijan’s provocations against the organization’s allies.
Asked about the reasons why he CSTO is not responding to Azerbaijan’s attacks on its allies’ borders, Mr Kolerov said:
“The CSTO can issue a statement only if Serzh Sargsyan requests. According to the information at my disposal, he did not ask for such a statement to be made.”
Elaborating on the subject, he said:
”You are saying that Azerbaijan has intensified it actions against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, but I think the situation on the border is in conformity with the bilateral relations. I am sure that the Armenian and Russian presidents are following the course of creating an alliance, which will settle security issues and resolve the problem of military and technical support. Finally, it is cart blanch to Armenia in forming a second national center in Russia.”
Asked whether Azerbaijan using tanks and mortars runs counter to the international cease fire principles, Mr Kolerov said:
“Yes, it does. So the tanks that fired at Nagorno-Karabakh must be destroyed.”
According to him, “absurd” are Armenian experts’ opinions that in not supporting Azerbaijan’s provocations Russia is acting on behalf of the CSTO. In this case, Russian-Armenian relations could be called into question.
“It is not the CSTO format, but Russian-Armenian partnership that is in question. And there can be no problems,” Mr Kolerov said.
Speaking of the latest Armenian-Azerbaijani presidential meeting, he said that such meetings cannot produce any results in terms of conflict settlement as they are not supposed to.
“The meetings are not a way to progress. However hard the conflicting parties reproach each other, you have to be reconciled with each other. It is not the Azerbaijani people that is the enemy. It is their leaders that are the enemy,” the expert said.
Azerbaijan has the necessary financial and human resources to launch large-scale hostilities, but “they are afraid that we can kill them.”