Armenia-Azerbaijan border as regional flashpoint

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[9]Several have been killed in ongoing clashes that broke out along the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan. An Azerbaijani general is among the dead in the heaviest fighting between the two nations in years. Villages in Azerbaijan's northern Tovuz rayon (district) have come under artillery fire by Armenian forces, causing property damage. Officials in both countries blamed each other for starting the fighting. But some see an Armenian design to involve Russia in the conflict. This time the fighting is not in the contested enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, where Armenia does not have internationally recognized sovereignty. An attack there would fall outside the purview of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO [10]), of which Armenia is a member. Under Article 4 of the CSTO Charter, an attack on a member state is considered an attack against all members. (Photo: Axar.az [11])

tovuz.jpg [12]

At least 16 have been killed on both sides in ongoing clashes that broke out along the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan July 12. An Azerbaijani general is among the dead in the heaviest fighting between the two nations in years. The skirmishes are mostly being fought with heavy artillery and drones. Villages in Azerbaijan's northern Tovuz rayon (district) have come under artillery fire by Armenian forces, causing property damage. (AP [13], Axar.az [11])

Officials in both countries blamed each other for starting the fighting. An analysis by the DC-based Jamestown Foundation [14] appears to accept Azerbaijan's version of events, and sees a design to widen the conflict in the fact that this time the fighting is in Tovuz and not the contested enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh [15]. Armenia is a member state of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO [10]) along with Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Under Article 4 of the CSTO Charter, an attack on a member state is considered an attack against all members. But any hostilities in Armenian-held Nagorno-Karabakh would fall outside the CSTO purview, since the international community recognizes the enclave as officially under Azerbaijan's sovereignty. (Caspian News [16])

The CSTO has in recent years considered military intervention [17] in Kyrgyzstan, and Russia has deployed troops [18] to the Central Asian country under auspices of the treaty.