NATO’s coordinator for Southern Caucasus Despina Afentouli silently evaded the query on whether blockading the border of a neighboring country falls into the principles that guide the Alliance.

At Thursday’s press conference in Armenia’s capital city Yerevan, Afentouli was reminded that Turkey is the sole Armenia-bordering NATO member country that has closed its border with Armenia for already twenty years, and it prepares to sign a military assistance agreement with Azerbaijan.   

In response, the NATO representative stated that the Alliance builds its relations based on the peculiarities of each country. Accordingly, each country defines for itself the degree of integration and the level of relations. 

Afentouli also stressed that NATO respects all countries and their territorial integrity and independence. Moreover, as per Afentouli, the Alliance member countries do not have to make their decisions comply with NATO’s view. Nonetheless, their foreign policies shall not run counter to the NATO general precepts.

To the query on whether the closing of the borders with neighboring countries and Turkey’s assistance to Azerbaijan—which prepares for a new war against Armenia—stem from the NATO principles, the Alliance’s representative stated that NATO has no such calculations. In her words, the Alliance is aware of the disagreements between Armenia and Turkey, and it previously contributed to the attempts to search for avenues to normalize bilateral relations.