CAUCASUS UNDER NO IMMEDIATE THREAT OF ARMED CONFLICT

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.02.2010 13:32 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Caucasus region is under no immediate threat of
armed conflict, according to military expert Alexander Golts.

"Most obvious reasons behind this are: Armenia’s membership in the
CSTO, which means organization’s serious support in case of war, as
well as better training of Armenian army officers. True, Azerbaijan
has been intensively purchasing weapons recently. Yet what really
matters is fighting capacity, in which, experts say, Armenian army
is superior to Azerbaijan’s," Mr. Golts noted.

As the expert pointed out, the possibility of strong Turkish army’s
interference might pose a serious danger. "Russia, in turn, is
interested in upholding peace in the region, and will take every
effort to prevent such outcome," Caucasian Knot cited him as saying.

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out in
1988 as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched in the
final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from
1991 to 1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, sealed by Armenia, NKR and
Azerbaijan, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions of Azerbaijan
around it (the security zone) remain under the control of NKR defense
army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks mediated by the
OSCE Minsk Group up till now.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization, formed under the framework
of the Commonwealth of Independent States, serves as a mutual defense
alliance among Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and
Tajikistan. The Collective Security Treaty (CST) was signed on May
15, 1992 for five-year term, with the possibility of prolongation. On
December 2, 2004 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted
the Resolution to grant the observer status to the Collective Security
Treaty Organization in the General Assembly of the United Nations. The
goal of the Collective Security Treaty Organization is to strengthen
peace and international and regional security and stability and to
ensure collective protection of independence, territorial integrity
and sovereignty of Member States, in the attainment of which Member
States shall give priority to political methods. On February 4, 2009,
the CSTO leaders approved formation of Collective Rapid Reaction Force
(RRF).