Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Armenians skillfully consider these issues, and they like to take these actions frequently, deputy head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, head of the foreign relations department Novruz Mammadov said Thursday.

He was commenting on Armenia's statements on launching the Khojaly airport, which had no actions following it.

"Thus, the Armenians, on the one hand, want to know about the position if they actually announce about launching the flights," Mammadov said.

"On the other hand, unfortunately, the international community, in general, the political representatives and representatives of the Western countries and governments, often recalling about international law, do not express their position on this issue. Without expressing their position, they show their attitude to the international law, its rules and principles," noted.

"Azerbaijan is considering the Armenian side's action as provocation towards the negotiations over the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement and international relations," Mammadov added.

Meanwhile, the issue about the Khojaly airport was discussed on Thursday at the meeting of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna.

The member of Azerbaijani delegation, MP Azay Guliyev said at the meeting that Armenia is posing a threat against Azerbaijan by operating flights from Khojaly Airport, which is under its occupation.

This air space belongs to Azerbaijan, so its use by Armenia is illegal, he noted.

"Armenia's steps towards the operation of the airport are attempts to violate international aviation law, particularly, Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. In this regard, Azerbaijan will strengthen the legal level use of the application of the Chicago convention", the deputy said.

"It's obvious that the opening of the Khojaly airport would seriously harm the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and might cause a counter reaction. This attempt should be considered a provocation and an obstacle to the conflict's resolution that endangers the mutual confidence building," Guliyev noted.

Earlier, Armenian media reported on the intended commissioning of the airport in Khojaly in the near future.

Commissioning of the airport is an open violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (adopted on December 7, 1944 in Chicago), the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported earlier.

Azerbaijan will strengthen the legal level use of the application of the Chicago convention.

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.