Azernews.Az

By Jamila Babayeva

The frozen conflicts in Transnistria, Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh or South Osetia are a test for NATO's capacity to bring stability and security to the region, including the capacity to ensure Europe's energy security.

Romanian President Traian Basescu stated in an address to the Parliament on the 10th anniversary of Romania's joining NATO on April 2, actmedia.eu reported.

"The diplomatic inefficiency and maintaining grey areas are a major risk to the regional security," he said.

The South Caucasus countries Azerbaijan and Georgia suffer from unresolved conflicts.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s.

The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.

Georgia and Russia, its giant northern neighbor, have maintained no diplomatic relations since a brief war in 2008. Tbilisi broke off relations with Moscow in August 2008 when Moscow crushed a Georgian assault to reassert control over two rebel regions -South Ossetia and Abkhazia- and later recognized the regions. Georgia announced the two unrecognized republics as occupied territories in September 2008.