CSTO MILITARY ALLIANCE ‘COMMITTED TO ARMENIA’S DEFENSE’

Asbarez
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Aug 6, 2009

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-Armenia can count on military support from fellow
members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in case
of a new war with Azerbaijan, the secretary general of the Russian-led
defense alliance indicated on Thursday.

"When it comes to war, one has to understand that the CSTO is
based on the Collective Security Treaty, Article 4 of which says
that an aggression against one of the organization’s member states
is an aggression against all member states," Nikolay Bordyuzha said
during a video conference with Armenian journalists. "We will proceed
from that."

Bordyuzha was responding to a question about what the CSTO would do if
Azerbaijan, which is not a member of the security pact, were to launch
a military campaign against Armenia to win back Nagorno-Karabakh.

The CSTO was set up in the wake of the Soviet collapse and currently
comprises Russia and six other ex-Soviet republics: Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Yerevan’s membership
in the alliance reflects its close military ties with Moscow.

Analysts in Yerevan have long doubted that CSTO member states other
than Russia would provide military assistance to Armenia in the event
of renewed war in Karabakh. In fact, some of those states, notably
Kazakhstan, have voted for Karabakh-related resolutions submitted by
Azerbaijan to various international organizations.

"Often times things that are written on paper are not put into
practice," said Tevan Poghosian, chairman of the Armenian Atlantic
Association, which promotes closer ties between Armenia and
NATO. "Since that agreement [mentioned by Bordyuzha] has never been
tested in practice, I wouldn’t put much trust into it."

Bordyuzha noted with satisfaction that international efforts to
settle the Karabakh conflict have made significant progress of late
and could soon yield a breakthrough. "I very much hope that the
efforts of the Minsk Group, which is working very actively today,
and the meetings of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will
lead to a peaceful resolution of the conflict," he said. "Everything
testifies to that now."

Bordyuzha would not be drawn on the CSTO’s possible involvement in an
international peacekeeping force that would be deployed in the conflict
zone should the warring sides agree on a peace plan proposed by the
French, Russian and U.S. mediators. "The issue of the participation
of peacekeeping forces has never been discussed," he said. "Besides,
I must say that CSTO’s peacekeeping forces are still being formed
and will be ready only by the end of this month."

The Russian official appeared to refer to a NATO-style rapid reaction
force which the CSTO members except Belarus and Uzbekistan agreed
to form in June. The Armenian government has yet to clarify its
contribution to the force officially called the Collective Operational
Reaction Forces (CORF).