Armenia, one of main accomplices of separatism in world
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva
Armenia made another action, describing the support for separatism
in a global sense. As it is known, the Crimea is part of Ukraine,
which illegally joined Russia in March 2014, was another region,
recognized by almost no one in the world.
Almost all aircraft flying to the Crimea belong to Russia's
airlines and make flights between the cities of this country and
the breakaway region.
However, as it is known, "Grozny Avia" airline plans to initiate
Simferopol-Yerevan flights from Nov. 16. This will be the second
international flight from the Simferopol airport opened after the
Crimea joined Russia. However, the first flight was a charter
flight from Simferopol to Istanbul, rather than a regular
Simferopol-Yerevan flight to be initiated soon.
As it is known, Ukrainian airlines stopped flying to the Crimea
after its joining Russia in March 2014. At the same time, Ukraine
urged the International Civil Aviation Organization (ІCAO) to
condemn the violation of the Crimea's airspace by the Russian
aircraft. Thus, in connection with the Crimea's events, Ukraine as
a country with the airport of Simferopol on its territory, notified
all countries and international organizations, including Russia,
about closing the airport.
Therefore, flights to an unrecognized region are considered
illegitimate and regarded as the violation of Ukraine's
airspace.
By agreeing to open a direct air service between Simferopol and
Yerevan, Armenia, which has single-handedly supported separatism in
Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region for many years, openly
violated the international law again. However, it is not surprising
for the country which has occupied foreign lands for over 20
years.
Armenia's position on the Crimean issue became apparent after its
ill-fated voting against the resolution on Ukraine at the meeting
of UN General Assembly. That time, with overwhelming majority of
votes, the UN General Assembly passed the resolution declaring the
invalidity of the March 16 referendum on Crimea's joining
Russia.
This is while Russia's long-standing ally Belarus, which voted for
the resolution, didn't violate the international law and cancelled
the summer flights of its Belavia Airlines to Crimea. And it is
quite clear, since ICAO prohibits passenger aircraft to carry out
flights to the airports of unrecognized republics and unrecognized
territories.
Therefore, Belarus decided to comply with the international law by
canceling the flights as distinct from Armenia which wastes no
effort to support separatism in its purest form in various regions
of the world as many years before.