By Trend

Most of CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization countries) support Azerbaijan despite the fact that Armenia is a member of this organization, Director of the Russian Institute for Political Studies, Russian analyst Sergei Markov told Trend.

Turkmenistan's Ashgabat hosted the 15th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) with the successful participation of Azerbaijan. As a result of the summit, the Ashgabat Declaration was adopted, in which Azerbaijan was congratulated on the liberation of the occupied territories and the restoration of territorial integrity. In particular, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, members of the CSTO, also congratulated Azerbaijan on a historic victory.

According to Markov, this is undoubtedly a diplomatic victory for Azerbaijan,

"The personality of President Ilham Aliyev, who is one of the outstanding diplomats of the modern world, played a role here. This is an expected diplomatic victory, the result of all the years of activity of the leadership of Azerbaijan," he said.

Markov stressed that in the confrontation with Armenia, Azerbaijan enjoys tremendous support from most countries, including most countries in the post-Soviet space and the CSTO, despite the fact that Armenia is a member of this organization.

"In addition to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan, Belarus should also be named, which also actively supports Azerbaijan, specifically with weapons. There are several reasons why there is such tremendous support for Azerbaijan. First, all UN members know that there are resolutions of the UN Security Council, which have repeatedly stressed that Karabakh is Azerbaijan and the occupation must end. In addition, everyone knows that Azerbaijan takes a fair position. These territories have always been Azerbaijani," Markov said.

"Everyone knows with what barbaric methods Armenia occupied the lands of Azerbaijan. The proof of this is the genocide in Khojaly, mass ethnic cleansing. All this prompted various countries to support Azerbaijan. Many states are quite critical of Armenia. Back in Soviet times, as now, Azerbaijan has always been a multinational, multi-confessional country. And Armenia has always been and remains a mono-national, ultra-nationalist country," Markov added.