Armenia lets CSTO know border situation "could get out of hand"

PanARMENIAN.Net - Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan said on Tuesday, May 25 that Armenia has informed that the Collective Security Treaty Organization that the situation with Azerbaijan's incursion is getting out of control and that it needs to be settled quickly.

The Secretary's comments came after a serviceman was killed in a shootout between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops near the village of Verin Shorzha, Gegharkunik province on Tuesday.

Grigoryan said in an interview on Public TV that the CSTO has to speed up the process. According to him, the death of the soldier shows that Armenia is running out of options to resolve the issue peacefully through diplomacy.

The Security Council Chief also said the situation is now falling under Article 4 of the Collective Security Treaty, which says that if one of the Member States undergoes aggression, it will be considered as aggression to all the Member States of the Treaty.

"We still hope that the problem will be solved through negotiations, but if not, we will have to employ other tools," Grigoryan said.

He added that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin have in their contacts agreed that the Azerbaijani military must leave the territory of Armenia.

Grigoryan also noted that the process of delimitation and demarcation is interwoven with the Nagorno-karabakh conflict: "Our problems with Azerbaijan cannot be discussed separately."

On the morning of May 12, the armed forces of Azerbaijan violated the border of Armenia in the southern province of Syunik, advancing 3.5 kilometers and surrounding Sev Lake, which is situated on the border between the two countries but is predominantly a part of Armenia. On May 13, the Azerbaijani military committed more border violations against Armenia, advancing near Vardenis (Gegharkunik province) and Sisian (Syunik province).