Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Deputy speaker of Azerbaijan's parliament has said Armenia has no legal right to open an international airport in Khankandi -- the center of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic run by ethnic Armenians in occupied Azerbaijani territories.

"We have repeatedly expressed our position on this issue," Ziyafat Asgarov told media last week. "Armenia has repeatedly tried to do it, but for various reasons postponed opening of the airport. But if they try to go ahead, they will face Azerbaijan's appropriate response."

"No one can carry out such a project without Azerbaijan's consent," Asgarov said and also noted that Azerbaijan has informed international organizations on the matter.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in a recent statement pledged to be the first passenger on a flight to Khankandi.

Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov says commissioning of the airport in Khankandi would be an open violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation -- which was signed in Chicago on December 7, 1944. Therefore, Baku will "intensify work in the legal realm" to enforce the convention, Azimov told Trend news agency.

Azimov said Khankandi's airspace is Azerbaijan's airspace, and the same principles of sovereignty apply.

He said flights over Azerbaijan's territory from any country are impossible without the country's permission.

Azimov condemned these illegal actions in the occupied Azerbaijani territories and attempts to present them as an act of humanitarian assstance.

"These territories are occupied, and the aggressor's armed forces are there. I believe that such air traffic will be used primarily for supplying these armed forces. Of course, this is unacceptable," he said.

Earlier, deputy executive secretary of the ruling Yeni (New) Azerbaijan party, political analyst Mubariz Gurbanli said in an interview with News.az website that the opening of the airport in Khankandi is a provocation against Azerbaijan. Yerevan is pursuing only one purpose in taking this step -- to promote in the international arena the self-proclaimed entity established by Armenia in the occupied territories of the neighboring country.

Gurbanli also said that in fact, according to the requirements of international law, Azerbaijan has the right to shoot down aircraft violating its airspace. Therefore, the UN, OSCE and Council of Europe should take due action to prevent such incidents.

Azerbaijan has banned use of the airspace of the Armenia-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, as no one can guarantee flight safety there, head of the Azerbaijani Civil Aviation Administration, Arif Mammadov, told the Yeni Azerbaijan party's website earlier.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the European Civil Aviation Conference (ICAC) support Baku's stance on the issue.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994. Armenian armed forces have since occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno Karabakh, defying international calls and UN resolutions.

Peace talks, brokered by the United States, Russia and France through the OSCE Minsk Group, have been largely fruitless so far.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on a pullout from Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding regions.