British MP opposes Armenia’s illegal plans for Khojaly airport
A British MP made a statement regarding Armenia's illegal plans to open Khojaly airport in Nagorno-Karabakh -- an Azerbaijani region under Armenian occupation.
"Legally, Khojaly airport cannot operate, as unauthorised flights through Azerbaijani airspace are not permitted without that government's sanction," British MP Chris Pincher, Member of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee and chair of the Azerbaijan All-Party Parliamentary Group said, the European Azerbaijan Society told Trend news agency.
"The right time to start talking about re-opening the airport is once the hostilities are over, and when the people who were expelled from their homes and who currently languish in displaced person camps are given the chance to return to their homes," he said.
Earlier, Armenian media reported that the airport in Khojaly is to be commissioned in the near future.
Commissioning the airport in Khojaly is an open violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation adopted on December 7, 1944 in Chicago, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said earlier.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the European Civil Aviation Conference (ICAC) support the position of Azerbaijan on the issue.
Azerbaijan banned the use of the airspace over Nagorno-Karabakh occupied by Armenia, as no one can guarantee a safe air corridor in the area, the head of the Azerbaijani Civil Aviation Administration, Arif Mammadov said earlier.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the U.S. - are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.