Armenia’s steps to open Khojaly airport labeled provocative
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijan's position on the opening of the airport in Khojaly was repeatedly announced and brought to the attention of international institutions, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said on Thursday while commenting on Armenia's illegal plans for the opening of the airport in Azerbaijan's occupied territories.
"We consider Armenia's actions illegal and contrary to all international regulations, as international law prohibits flights over the occupied territories. Even if these flights are humanitarian ones," he said.
"On our end, there are no claims to operation of flights. The problem rests in the fact that these territories are occupied. If Armenia withdraws its troops from these territories, it can operate these flights," Mammadyarov said.
Besides, the European parliament members and experts have labeled Armenia's steps on opening the Khojaly airport in the occupied Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh as a provocative move.
British MP Chris Heaton-Harris stated that plans to open Khojaly airport deal a big blow to the process of negotiations over the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"As somebody who has visited the region I know how tragic the traces left by the events that occurred in Nagorno-Karabakh are and the fact that this is a delicate issue of the peace negotiations. Therefore, the plan to re-open the airport in Khojaly will cause great damage to the peace talks," he said.
"It [the plan] not only ignores international law, but also conjures up memories of the civilians who died when forced out of their homes in that town just twenty years ago. Any plans to re-open the airport in Khojaly would be counterproductive unless part of a wider settlement," he added.
Also, the member of the British House of Lords Lord Laird said on Wednesday any suggestion that the Khojaly airport could be reopened is a provocative move that would undoubtedly have a negative impact on the current peace talks -- which aim to settle the long-standing Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
"Scheduled flights could never be officially sanctioned by the ICAO [International Civil Aviation Organization] and the airport at Khojaly is very near the Line of Contact [between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops] -- a factor that entails obvious dangers for any passengers flying in or out," Laird said.
Earlier this week, Mark Field, another British MP, who sits on the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, voiced concern over the fallout from the airport reopening. He said any move to reopen the Khojaly airport would undoubtedly have a negative impact on peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan being held under the aegis of the OSCE Minsk Group, which have reached a critical phase.
"Given the symbolism associated with Khojaly, such a move could even derail the peace talks completely," Field stated.
French Senator Nathalie Goulet also believes that an attempt of the Armenian government to open Khojaly airport is a provocation. According to Goulet, the move of Armenia, which occupies 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territories, would undermine the peace process.
Calling the Khojaly tragedy "a true genocide", the senator said she considers herself an honorary citizen of Azerbaijan and would do her best to protect and promote Azerbaijan.
Well-known Israeli political analyst and public figure Avigdor Eskin shares these views.
The commissioning of the Khojaly airport violates the Convention on International Civil Aviation -- also known as the Chicago Convention -- and Baku can achieve imposing sanctions on Armenia if it tries to step up work in the legal field over the enforcement of the convention, Eskin said commenting on the issue.
According to him, it is possible to achieve imposition of sanctions if the Azerbaijani lobby contributes to these efforts, which can draw the attention of the international community to this problem.
"The provocative actions of the Armenian authorities over the opening of the Khojaly airport are one of the ways to put pressure on Azerbaijan, as the flights within the airspace of Azerbaijan are not allowed, and the opening of the airport in the occupied territories is prohibited," the analyst said.
Earlier, Armenian media reported that the airport in Khojaly is to be commissioned in the near future.
The commissioning of the airport is an open violation of the convention on civil aviation -- which was adopted on December 7, 1944 in Chicago, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said earlier.
The ICAO and European Civil Aviation Conference support Azerbaijan's position on the issue. Document No.121 on airports of the ICAO cited the Khojaly airport as property of Azerbaijan.
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.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a brutal war that concluded with the signing of a fragile cease-fire in 1994. Since the war, 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.