Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan's warning that it could shoot down Armenian planes flying to the newly built airport in the Armenia-occupied Nagorno Karabakh region remains in force, head of the country’s aviation authority has said.

"The Azerbaijani side reserves this right under the Law on Aviation. And whether or not it will be exercised will be decided by the Azerbaijani government," said Arif Mammadov, director of the State Civil Aviation Administration.

The airport near Khankandi, the center of the self-proclaimed republic run by ethnic Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh, has been closed since the outbreak of the Karabakh war, which saw ethnic Armenian forces backed by Yerevan occupy the region and seven surrounding Azerbaijani districts.

Mammadov said the airport will not be certified by the CIS aviation authority. He added that the issue was discussed during its chairman’s visit to Baku in May.

"The chairman pledged that the Interstate Aviation Committee will not take any action regarding the airport without the Azerbaijani side’s consent. Even if an appeal is made by Armenia, the airport will not be granted a certificate."

Mammadov said that though Baku’s warning to Armenia issued through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) remained unanswered, the separatist leaders in Nagorno Karabakh said afterwards they had postponed the airport opening.

The separatist authorities earlier said they intended to reopen the airport on May 9 to restart commercial flights to the Armenian capital Yerevan. But after Baku said the occupied territories' airspace was a no-fly zone and any such flights would be unauthorized, they said its opening was postponed, claiming reconstruction work had not been completed.

Dmitry Atbashyan, head of the separatist regime’s civil aviation body, said construction of the Khankandi airport is due to be completed in September if the operations are not impeded by inclement weather.

Armenian media reported that initially, flights from Nagorno Karabakh will be carried out only to Yerevan. The possibility of flights to other CIS countries, notably, Russia, is under consideration as well.

But Azerbaijani aviation body head Mammadov said any country defying Azerbaijan’s warnings against administering flights to the occupied territories would face economic sanctions.

Despite Mammadov’s earlier warning that airplanes violating Azerbaijan's airspace could be shot down, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said he would be the first passenger to land at the Khankandi airport.

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov said then that Azerbaijan has never and will not hit civilian targets, unlike Armenia, which is known for its terror operations and warfare against civilians.