Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan has no intention to join CIS security bloc CSTO, NATO or any other groups as long as they fail to meet the country’s interests, a presidential aide has said.

Ali Hasanov, the head of the Presidential Administration socio-political department, told reporters that Baku’s membership requires primarily those military blocs’ recognizing as an aggressor Armenia, which occupies part of Azerbaijani territory.

"Since 1992 Azerbaijan has repeatedly protested over the stationing of Russian military bases in Armenia and the illegitimate armament of the Armenian army. The Russian side stated that it was ready to sign the same agreements with Azerbaijan and that the doors to the CSTO were open for us. But we refused to join the organization as Azerbaijan does not want to be a member of an organization that includes aggressor Armenia.

"So long as Armenia has not relinquished its policy of occupation and this policy has not been exposed at the CSTO, Azerbaijan does not see a point in being represented in this organization," Hasanov said.

The CSTO is the military-political alliance of CIS countries, established on the basis of the Collective Security Treaty (CST) signed in May 1992. The organization includes Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Belarus and Uzbekistan.

20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory has been under Armenian occupation since the two South Caucasus republics signed a precarious cease-fire in 1994 following a lengthy war.