NATO summit justifies expectations of Southern Caucasus countries

The declaration adopted at the NATO summit on recognizing the territorial integrity of Georgia and Azerbaijan meets the expectations of these countries, political analysts have stated. The visit of the Armenian Prime Minister to Brussels allowed reminding the West of the need for a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, the Armenian expert believes.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 11, leaders of the 29 NATO member-states called on Russia to withdraw troops from Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"It is important in the declaration that all the NATO countries have recognized Russia as an aggressor and demanded to withdraw its troops from Georgia," the Georgian President Georgi Margvelashvili has stated.

The summit said nothing about the forthcoming membership in NATO, although Georgia has visibly approached it, said Korneli Kakachiya, the head of the Institute of Georgian Politics.

According to his story, Germany, France and Italy refuse to support Georgia's accession to NATO, in order not to irritate Russia.

Baku is satisfied that the communiqué of the NATO summit supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of this country has stated.

Azerbaijan has no plans to join NATO, but is actively cooperating with it.

The participation of the Premier Nikol Pashinyan in the NATO summit has raised the Armenia's importance, Agasi Enokyan, an expert in international relations, has stated.

Pashinyan called on NATO to draw Azerbaijan's attention to the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict. He noted that Armenia remains a close ally of Russia and hopes for the development of relations both with Russia and with NATO, the EU and the USA.