Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan has said it will stand by its position on the opening of Khojaly airport in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region occupied by Armenian armed forces since a 1990s war, warning that illegal flights over the territory of Azerbaijan will be prevented.

"Azerbaijan definitely will not give up its position on the Khojaly airport," First Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Ziyafat Asgarov said last weekend. "Illegal flights over the territory of Azerbaijan will be prevented in accordance with the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation and the provisions of the Law on Civil Aviation of Azerbaijan."

Asgarov said any foreign aircraft flying through the airspace of Azerbaijan without the country's permission would be shot down by air defense forces.

"This is an unambiguous decision, and we have repeatedly stated this," Asgarov said, adding that it only applies to flights to be carried out in the occupied territories.

"Today, Armenian civilian aircraft operate flights through the airspace of Azerbaijan," Asgarov said. "At the same time, such flights are operated by the civil aviation of Azerbaijan as well. This procedure is regulated by international laws and conventions. I repeat that we are talking about the planned flights over the occupied territory. It is necessary to distinguish between these two concepts. Flights over this area may only take place in one case - upon Azerbaijan's approval. Azerbaijan may consider the issue only after liberation of the occupied territories."

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev said that all countries have the exclusive right and full sovereignty of their airspace according to the first clause of the Chicago Convention. He said the Azerbaijan Cabinet of Ministers' new rules on air traffic regulation are based on the provisions of the Chicago Convention and international law in general.

Recently, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted the rules that allow shooting down all aircraft that violate the country's airspace.

Abdullayev told journalists Monday that according to the ninth article of the Convention, a country has the right to close its airspace, if necessary.

"Using its sovereign right in 1993, Azerbaijan closed its airspace over the occupied territories," he said. "This means that all the member states of the Convention are obliged to respect Azerbaijan's right."

On the same day, head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration foreign relations department, Novruz Mammadov, told journalists that construction and possible commissioning of Khojaly airport by Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan have a negative impact on the negotiation process over resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and fuel tensions.

Matthew Bryza, a former co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, which is brokering peace talks between Baku and Yerevan, believes that there are legal methods to block operation of the Khojaly airport. Speaking about the Armenian plans to open the airport in Azerbaijan's occupied territories, he said last week that Azerbaijan has a right to defend its territorial integrity under international law.

Bryza noted that issues concerning the airport in the occupied territories can lead to escalation of tension around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. However, this issue, like other related problems, can be resolved by the OSCE Minsk Group, he said, recalling his remarks made when he served as US ambassador to Azerbaijan and OSCE Minsk Group co-chair.

Armenian media recently reported that Armenians have restored the Khojaly airport in Nagorno-Karabakh. The "prime minister" of the separatist regime in Nagorno-Karabakh has declared that in the near future technical flights will be carried out at the airport.

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

International flights from the Khojaly airport, constructed in 1978, were prohibited after the occupation of territories by Armenia. The Khojaly airport, which has been registered in international organizations with the name UB13, is a facility with military purposes.

Document No.121 on airports of the ICAO cited the Khojaly airport as property of Azerbaijan.

Commissioning the airport in Khojaly is an open violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation -- which was adopted on December 7, 1944 in Chicago, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said earlier.

Since a brutal war that concluded with the signing of a fragile cease-fire in 1994, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. Peace talks, brokered by Russia, France and the U.S., the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, have been mostly fruitless so far.