Anna Nazaryan
Public Radio of Armenia
The incident yesterday, when Azerbaijan shot down the helicopter from Nagorno Karabakh forces is absolutely not conducive to the peaceful resolution of this conflict, NATO’s Liason Officer in the South Caucasus William Lahue told reporters on the sidelines of a workshop for reporters organized within the framework of the NATO Week in Armenia.
“Military actions serve to inhibit the ability of the parties to resolve such a conflict,” he said, adding that “NATO would like to see the parties engaged in peaceful negotiations and discussions to resolve this conflict within the OSCE Minsk Group format.”
Can Armenia expect security guarantees from NATO any time in the future? “NATO, as an institution, is dedicated to the security of its members. And though we cooperate through partnerships with Armenia and other countries to help bring peace, stability and security to the partners, NATO provides security guarantees only to its members,” William Lahue said.
“If in the future the situation changes, and if Armenia, as a European country, makes a decision to join NATO, our doors are open. NATO membership is open to any European country. Like Georgia has made NATO membership a priority of its foreign policy, other European countries can also do this,” he added.
William Lahue added that “Armenia is a strong partner of NATO.” “Armenia has contributed a great deal to European security by working through NATO institutions, for example in Afghanistan and Kosovo. I think the partnership between Armenia and NATO will continue to be strong,” he concluded.
