Azeri embassy protests at CIS security group’s allegations
The Azerbaijani embassy in Russia has protested at the
Russia-dominated security group accusing Ambassador Polad
Bulbuloghlu’s of "inciting tension in the region".
The embassy said in a statement that the response by the Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the military arm of CIS, to
the envoy’s recent remarks on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper
(Nagorno) Garabagh conflict "was astonishing".
Bulbuloghlu has told the Baku-based ANS TV channel that it is time
to liberate the Armenia-occupied territories of Azerbaijan by any
means. He said that if Baku launches military operations, no
country, including CSTO members, has the legal right to interfere,
"because Azerbaijan will be waging warfare on its own soil and
reserves the right to free its lands from the invaders in
accordance with the UN bylaws." The CSTO said the statement was
"disappointing", as the remarks allegedly contain "an unambiguous
call for the use of force." The CSTO alleged that Bulbuloghlu’s
statement could be assessed as lack of confidence in a political
solution of the conflict and encouragement for a military solution
of the problem.
"The ambassador’s words contain a call not for war, as distortedly
said by the [CSTO’s] Secretariat, but for the liberation of
Azerbaijan’s territories, occupied as a result of an aggression war
and internationally recognized by the CSTO member states, excluding
Armenia," the embassy’s statement says.
It also affirmed Baku’s intransigent stance stipulating that the
Garabagh conflict must be settled on the basis of international
law, the country’s territorial integrity and the mediating OSCE
Minsk Group’s efforts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the
signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but Armenia continues to occupy
Upper Garabagh and seven other Azerbaijani districts in defiance of
international law. Despite numerous rounds of negotiations,
mediated by Russia, France and the United States through the Minsk
Group, peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.
The CSTO comprises Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
and Tajikistan. One of the organization’s goals is to provide
military aid to a CSTO member in the event of a military threat.
Azerbaijan turned down membership in the group.*
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