Armenian Minister of Defense Arshak Karapetyan and visiting Secretary General   Stanislav Zas met in Yerevan today and discussed the ongoing situation along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Karapetyan, according to a statement released by his office, told Zas that while Armenia wants to resolve the matter peacefully it will not accept any violations of its border.

“We are for peace, and do not want tensions on our borders. At the same time, we are not ready to accept the actions that could lead to the violation of the state border of Armenia. We will resolutely defend our territories. We, of course, seek to resolve this issue peacefully, demonstrating our love of peace. At the same time, our patience is not limitless either. In the absence of a peaceful resolution of the situation on our borders, we reserve the right to resolve the issue by force,” Karapetyan said at the meeting.

The Armenian Defense Minister expressed his regrets that CSTO has described tensions along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in connection with the establishment of a new border as a "border incident" and thus does not fall under the provisions of the CSTO charter on collective defense.

In May, then Acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan officially called on CSTO Security Council Chairperson Emomali Rahmon (President of Tajikistan) to immediately activate the mechanism of emergency consultations as envisaged by Article Two of its founding treaty.

Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.