Azernews.Az

BAKU – The United States is content with Azerbaijan’s stance on the planned flights above its Armenia-occupied territories and Baku’s attempts to defend its rights at the international civil aviation body, US Ambassador Matthew Bryza said Monday.

The separatist authorities have been rebuilding the airport near Khankandi, the center of the self-proclaimed republic run by ethnic Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh, and plan to reopen it on May 9 to restart commercial flights to Yerevan.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said recently that the country would not hit civilian targets, unlike Armenia, a neighboring country that fought a war with Azerbaijan in the 1990s and is known for its terror operations and warfare against civilians. The ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov’s statement came after Azerbaijani civil aviation organization’s warning that airplanes violating Azerbaijan's airspace could be shot down.

"Regardless of which of the sides is right, as I said before, shooting down a civilian plane is unacceptable under any circumstances," Bryza said. "I am very pleased that the Azerbaijani government has changed its approach and is trying to defend its rights at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)."

Bryza said he was not inclined to comment on the separatist authorities’ plan to launch the airport.

"Let the co-chairs [of the OSCE Minsk Group brokering peace talks] come to the region and state their view. This would be more proper."

The ambassador added that planes flying to Azerbaijan’s enclave of Nakhchivan "pass through Armenia’s airspace and this is considered acceptable."

Baku said earlier that it has told ICAO that the occupied territories' airspace was a no-fly zone and any flights would be unauthorized. Arif Mammadov, the director of Azerbaijan's Civil Aviation Administration, told the press that according to the law on aviation, it is possible to shoot down airplanes violating Azerbaijan's airspace.

The airport has been closed since the outbreak of the Karabakh war, which saw ethnic Armenian forces backed by Yerevan occupy the region amid fighting that left an estimated 30,000 people dead. Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned it could use force to regain its occupied territories if the ongoing peace talks remain fruitless.