Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Opening of an airport in Khankendi is the Armenian side's provocation, Turkish Foreign Ministry's website reported.

Khankandi is the center of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic run by ethnic Armenians in the occupied Azerbaijani territories. Head of the self-proclaimed republic's civil aviation body, Valeri Adbashyan, announced launching the airport in Khankandi in the Armenian press on Oct.1.

Armenia's decision to open an airport in Khankendi harms the process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution and is an open provocation of Armenia, the ministry said.

Turkish Foreign Ministry urged Armenia to abandon the actions that will be an obstacle to the development of the region.

Armenia's efforts to operate the airport in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region are attempts to violate international law, the Azerbaijani aviation body said following the reports on launching the airport in Khankandi.

"Our position has not changed. All actions must comply with international law," the Azerbaijani Civil Aviation Administration (ACAA) said.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly expressed its position regarding Armenia's illegitimate step to commission the Khankandi airport.

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

The head of Civil Aviation Administration, Arif Mammadov, said earlier that Azerbaijan has banned the use of airspace of the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh territory, as the security of flights on this territory cannot be guaranteed.

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

Thomas de Waal, an expert on the South Caucasus region at the Carnegie Endowment think-tank, in his comments to Armenian media noted that the airport opening could heighten tension on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops -- where deadly clashes frequently occur.

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.