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Talks on helicopter incident impossible between Armenia, CSTO

3 December 2014 10:23 (UTC+04:00)
Talks on helicopter incident impossible between Armenia, CSTO

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Armenian President Serzh Sargysan desperately sought to sit for talks with Head of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Nikolai Bordyuzha on the helicopter incident with Azerbaijan.

Sargsyan hoped for a firm support from Bordzyuzha, but the CSTO head decided to bypass profound talks by expressing just a few words about the incident.

Bordyuzha made no special statement on the chopper's downing during his visit to Armenia on November 28, promising Sargsyan to raise the issue in the Session of the Council of Collective Security Organization.

Political experts believe that Bordyuzha's stance on the chopper's downing was not serious and was directed to satisfy Armenian authorities, since the country is a member of the organization he heads. The CSTO has no right to say a word about regional tensions, particularly the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Well-known Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer said neither Bordyuzha, nor the CSTO could settle any serious problem.

"The CSTO has never engaged and will never interfere in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Bordyuzha's words were particularly for the Armenian audience. The union may talk on the conflict, but there will be no significant results," he noted.

Felgenhauer went on to say that Kazakhstan and Belarus - the CSTO member-states- will never intervene in Karabakh issue, since it is not their business. "The CSTO has not given a guarantee to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh," he said.

Sergei Markov, former Member of the Russian parliament, Head of the Russia's Political Studies Center, said the CSTO could not issue any statement on the helicopter incident between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"I know that an Armenian helicopter carried out a flight over Azerbaijan's territories and the Azerbaijani army downed it. Such kind of incidents is possible given the tense relations between the two countries, which ended in the outbreak of hostilities earlier in this August. The CSTO should realize the fact that the chopper was knocked and fell down to Azerbaijani territories. It means that the alliance has no right to address the issue," Markov said.

An Armenian attack helicopter violated Azerbaijan's airspace earlier on November 12 during the so-called exercise flight. Azerbaijani army took the most relevant measure and shot down the chopper, as it posed an attack threat on its positions.

The Convention on International Civil Aviation which was signed on December 7, 1944 paving the way for establishment of the International Civil Aviation Organization says every state has complete and exclusive sovereignty over airspace above its territory. Moreover, no scheduled flight may be operated over or into the territory of a contracting state, except with the special permission or other authorization of that state.

It obviously proves Armenia's illegal act in Azerbaijan's airspace, since Azerbaijan has not issued any special permission or authorization to allow the chopper make a flight within its internationally recognized air borders.

Armenia's hope to benefit from CSTO membership was also dashed in October, 2013, when Bordyuzha ignored the Armenian authorities' request to deploy Russian peacekeepers in the Nagorno Karabakh's territory. Bordyuzha disappointed the Armenian leadership, saying the issue on the peacekeeper placement in the NK could not be on the alliance's agenda, since the situation in the conflict zone is regulated by other organizations.

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