Ex-president Kocharyan says CSTO unable to influence Azerbaijan

YEREVAN, September 28. /ARKA/. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has no leverages of influence on Turkey and Azerbaijan and the Russia-led security pact will not take active steps (to protect Armenia’s territorial integrity against Azerbaijan), but Armenia should not withdraw from the organization and try instead use its capabilities, former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said at a press conference today.

Kocharyan spoke about the need to assess what factors and states can influence Turkey and Azerbaijan. According to him, Russia's leverage has decreased and the CSTO has no leverage at all.

"All CSTO member countries (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) have much better relations with Azerbaijan on the interstate and private levels than with Armenia. And to think that the CSTO can take any steps (against Azerbaijan) is geopolitical insanity," he said.

The former president said that Russia does and will do everything possible so that there are no clash between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but it will be political and diplomatic steps.

"Today Russia has allied relations with Azerbaijan, and to think that in this situation it can start military actions against Azerbaijan is ridiculous," he said.

"We need to assess the situation correctly, understand the motivation of partners and then make demands. The CSTO will not do anything else but look at the situation and make cautious statements. But this does not mean that we have to leave the CSTO: we have to stay and use what can be used in this situation," he believes.

"Iran is the only country that can be a deterrent for Turkey and Azerbaijan.  We have problems with Turkey and Azerbaijan, we should cooperate with those countries which also have problems with Turkey and Azerbaijan," he said.

Kocharyan suggested involving Iran in new security architecture, noting also  that Iran had made quite serious statements at all levels and is  ready for negotiations. 

He also stressed that the CSTO membership is not an obstacle for buying armaments from Europe. Kocharyan recalled that back in 1991, Armenia bought a batch of armaments from Europe.

Invoking a CSTO treaty article that says that attack on one is an attack on all Armenia officially asked the CSTO for military assistance hours after the outbreak of the two-day hostilities on the border on September 13-14, but Russia and other CSTO member states declined the request, deciding instead to send the fact-finding missions tasked with studying the situation on the ground and submitting policy recommendations.

The Secretary of Armenia's Security Council Armen Grigoryan said in an earlier interview that Armenia counted on military and political assistance from the Russia-led bloc to protect its sovereignty against Azerbaijani incursion.

"That was our demand to the CSTO, but it has not been fulfilled yet. Naturally, this cannot satisfy us," he said.

"The fact is that the CSTO has not yet responded properly to having Azerbaijani troops completely withdrawn from the sovereign Armenian territory. This means that our expectations have not been met," he stressed. -0-