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Araz Azimov: Collective Security Treaty Organization has limited political and geopolitical operation

21 September 2007 15:56 (UTC +04:00)

Bordyuja had said that increase of military budgets of Azerbaijan and Georgia, poses threat for CSTO members.
Araz Azimov considers that a state official dealing with international relations should not have made such a statement.
â€œMaybe this statement has concrete reasons. We know who backs them. On the other hand, the organizationâ€™s efforts to ensure its interests in the whole region, while it has only one member in this region, can not be satisfactory for Azerbaijan,â€ he said.
Deputy Minister said that though the issues on the agenda of the organization are related to ensuring security, the organization membership is limited and this is not only connected with technical or practical reasons.
â€œMaybe political and geopolitical problems limit it. Two of the three countries of the South Caucasus are not members of this organization and they are not expected to become member of organization soon. Only 6 of 12 independent states, founded after USSR collapsed, are the members of this organization. Collective Security Treaty Organization has limited political and geopolitical operation,â€ he said.
Mr. Azimov stated it is strange that CSTO plans to organize military groupings for the South Caucasus. He said it is not a secret that geopolitical dimension of the organization was defined long ago.
â€œThis is one-sided organization. Such logics, philosophy contradict the philosophy and goals of the policy pursued by Azerbaijan and Georgia. Azerbaijan and Georgia intend to be full member participants of the cooperation expanding in the form of international integration,â€ he said.
Touching on the increase of Azerbaijanâ€™s military budget, the diplomat underlined that it is the result of the countryâ€™s economic growth. /APA/