Treaty Organization

Treaty Organization.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO /ˈneɪtoʊ/; French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord; OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70 percent of the global total.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO; Russian: Организация Договора о Коллективной Безопасности Organizatsiya Dogovora o Kollektivnoy Bezopasnosti) is an intergovernmental military alliance which was signed on 15 May 1992. In 1992, six post-Soviet states belonging to the Commonwealth of Independent States—Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan—signed the Collective Security Treaty. Three other post- Soviet states—Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Georgia—signed the next year and the treaty took effect in 1994. Five years later, six of the nine—all but Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Uzbekistan—agreed to renew the treaty for five more years, and in 2002 those six formally agreed to create the Collective Security Treaty Organization as a military alliance. Uzbekistan rejoined the CSTO in 2005 but withdrew in 2012.

Nikolai Bordyuzha was appointed secretary general of the new organization. On 23 June 2006, Uzbekistan became a full participant in the CSTO; and its membership was formally ratified by the Uzbek parliament on 28 March 2008. It suspended its membership in 2012. The CSTO is currently an observer organisation at the United Nations General Assembly.

NATO and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) are not adversaries. They are security systems with their interests, which are of benefit to nations, RA President Serzh Sargsyan stated in his interview with the Ukraine-based “Profil” magazine.

According to him, Armenia manages to combine its CSTO membership with cooperation with NATO. “It turns out to been on good terms with the USA on the one hand and with Iran on the other hand, with Russia on the one hand and with Georgia on the other hand. It is because we are implementing a sincere policy. We are not trying to take any advantage of disagreements between other nations. Common interests of the USA and Russia are the best thing for us,” Sargsyan said.

The Central Treaty Organization (CENTO); originally known as the Middle East Treaty Organization (METO) was formed in 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and the United Kingdom through the Baghdad Pact. It was dissolved in 1979.

U.S. pressure and promises of military and economic aid were key in the negotiations leading to the agreement, although the United States could not initially participate. John Foster Dulles, who was involved in the negotiations, ascribed this to "the pro-Israel lobby and the difficulty of obtaining Congressional Approval" (Selwyn Lloyd; Suez 1956: A Personal account). Others said the reason was "for purely technical reasons of budgeting procedures." In 1958, the United States joined the military committee of the alliance. It is generally viewed as one of the least successful of the Cold War alliances.

Many treaties (such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, or the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade before the establishment of the World Trade Organization) do not establish an organization and instead rely purely on the parties for their administration becoming legally recognized as an ad hoc commission.