Azerbaijan Occupies Approximately 127 sq. km of Border Area from Armenia: Armen Khachatryan

The adversary has taken control of approximately 127 square kilometers of border area from the Republic of Armenia in total during 2021-2022. This was stated by Armenian National Assembly representative Armen Khachatryan during a coordinating meeting of the defense and security committee chairpersons of the CSTO member states held from October 18-21 in St. Petersburg.

“The military-political situation in the South Caucasus is characterized by a high potential for conflicts and Azerbaijan's demonstrative activity aimed at increasing its influence in the region and pressuring Armenia, with the absolute support of Turkey. On September 13 of this year, Azerbaijan, once again grossly violating the fundamental principles of international law, the trilateral agreements reached at the level of heads of state on November 9, 2020, and January 11, 2021, as well as the ceasefire regime, carried out direct aggression against the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. Armed forces of the adversary have targeted military objects and civilian infrastructure of the Republic of Armenia using artillery systems and drones, including right next to the facilities of the Russian Armed Forces (Sisian Airport and the Goris operational group). During these attacks, 36 cities of the Republic of Armenia were shelled, including Jermuk, Sisian, Tegh, Sotk, Vardenis, Goris, Kapan, Ishkhanasar, Martuni, and others.

As a result of the attacks, military and civilian infrastructures have been completely or partially destroyed, including 192 residential houses, 3 hotels, 2 schools, 1 medical facility, 7 electricity supply objects, 5 water supply objects, 3 gas pipelines, bridges, and roads. In one day, the number of casualties on the Armenian side, including civilians, exceeded 200 people. In total, during 2021-2022, the adversary has taken control of approximately 127 square kilometers of border area from the Republic of Armenia.

Moreover, Azerbaijan openly declares its claims on the sovereign territory of Armenia and is ready to continue military operations to establish control over the southern part of the country (Syunik province), which would allow it to establish a connection with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Region, and thus achieve complete control over the isolated territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

We do not rule out that the combat capabilities of the Azerbaijani armed forces may increase with the help of Turkish formations, which already have their own military units in the country's territory in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Region, totaling more than a thousand personnel.

All of the aforementioned actions by Azerbaijan grossly violate the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia, a member state of the CSTO; I emphasize this point because the cynicism of these events lies in the fact that Armenia is currently presiding over an organization that is celebrating a significant anniversary this year.

You know that from September 15 to 19, a joint operational group led by Colonel-General Anatoly Alexeyevich Sidorov was in Armenia, which conducted monitoring of the situation as part of the implementation of the decisions made at the extraordinary meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council initiated by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia. The CSTO Secretary-General Stanislav Vasilievich Zas has also visited Armenia twice on a working trip and met with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and other officials. Monitoring has been conducted, and proposals have been submitted to the leadership of Armenia to present a report to the leaders of the member states on stabilizing the situation and making effective decisions at the level of the CSTO Collective Security Council.

To be candid, the decision to monitor the situation made at the extraordinary session of the Collective Security Council in light of the fact that we already have documented evidence of aggression against a member state is certainly not the outcome that we expected from the organization.

Two years ago, when military operations were ongoing in Nagorno-Karabakh, we heard assertions that the CSTO could not intervene beyond its area of responsibility and that there were no grounds for activating emergency response mechanisms, since supposedly no strikes were aimed at the territory of Armenia, and there was no act of aggression committed against a member state of the organization.

It is entirely incomprehensible why the current situation does not fit within the framework of the concept of aggression against a member state of the CSTO and what hinders making decisions regarding the engagement of Rapid Response Collective Forces or providing Armenia with other military and military-technical assistance.

The successful and prompt peacekeeping operation carried out in Kazakhstan at the beginning of the year clearly demonstrated that the CSTO is functional. It creates the impression that the Caucasian region, more specifically, the territory of Armenia does not hold equivalent strategic importance for the CSTO, as the organization focuses maximum attention on the situation in Eastern Europe and the Tajik-Afghan border.

If that is not the case, then: Why is a decision made to exclude military assistance to Armenia? Why is there no response to the aggression and occupation of a fellow member state's territory, even at the level of statements? Why is Armenia's sovereign territory referred to as a