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AZERBAIJAN THREATENS TO SHOOT DOWN KARABAKH PLANES
July 18, 2014
The new airport terminal near Stepanakert
RFERL - Azerbaijan has threatened to shoot down civilian planes flying
to Nagorno-Karabakh if the sole civilian airport in the disputed
region reopens as planned.
The Karabakh Armenian leadership dismissed the threat, saying that
the first commercial flights between the territory and Armenia in
two decades would start as planned in May.
Arif Mammadov, the director of Azerbaijan's Civil Aviation
Administration, said the Azerbaijani government warned the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) last October that
it did not authorize any flights to Karabakh.
"We notified that the airspace over Karabakh is closed," Mammadov said,
according to the APA news agency. "The law on aviation envisages the
physical destruction of airplanes landing in that territory."
Mammadov said Baku sent another letter to the ICAO recently warning
that the disputed region's airspace was closed and "at the disposal
of Azerbaijan's Air Force."
"We asked the ICAO to notify the opposing side in order to prevent
negative incidents," he said, adding that the Montreal-based body
forwarded that letter to Armenia.
Bako Sahakian, the president of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh
republic, condemned the threat and warned through a spokesman that
any attempt to thwart the planned flights would meet with an "adequate
response" from the Karabakh Armenian military.
"If Azerbaijan resorts to such actions, it will trigger unpredictable
developments," Sahakian's press secretary, Davit Babayan, told RFE/RL's
Armenian Service.
"Such threats do not scare us, they only discredit Azerbaijan," Babayan
said. "We will go ahead with exploiting our airport as planned."
Flights to and from the airport, located 8 kilometers east of
Stepanakert, were discontinued in 1991 amid intensifying armed
clashes in and around Karabakh that degenerated into a full-scale
Armenian-Azerbaijani war.
Transport communication between the territory and the outside world
has since been carried out by land, via Armenia.
The Karabakh government decided in 2009 to reopen the airport, severely
damaged during the 1991-94 war. Its $3 million reconstruction is now
nearing completion.
A regular flight service between Stepanakert and Yerevan is scheduled
to be launched on May 9, a public holiday in Karabakh that will mark
the 19th anniversary of a major military victory over Azerbaijan.
Dmitry Atbashian, head of the local civil aviation authority, assured
journalists earlier this year that flight security "will be ensured 100
percent," despite the airport's proximity to the heavily militarized
"line of contact" separating Armenian and Azerbaijani forces.
Atbashian also announced that the Stepanakert-Yerevan flights would be
carried out by a newly established Karabakh airline, Artsakh Air. He
said its fleet of aircraft would consist of three Canadian-made CRJ200
passenger jets.
http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/44502
July 18, 2014
The new airport terminal near Stepanakert
RFERL - Azerbaijan has threatened to shoot down civilian planes flying
to Nagorno-Karabakh if the sole civilian airport in the disputed
region reopens as planned.
The Karabakh Armenian leadership dismissed the threat, saying that
the first commercial flights between the territory and Armenia in
two decades would start as planned in May.
Arif Mammadov, the director of Azerbaijan's Civil Aviation
Administration, said the Azerbaijani government warned the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) last October that
it did not authorize any flights to Karabakh.
"We notified that the airspace over Karabakh is closed," Mammadov said,
according to the APA news agency. "The law on aviation envisages the
physical destruction of airplanes landing in that territory."
Mammadov said Baku sent another letter to the ICAO recently warning
that the disputed region's airspace was closed and "at the disposal
of Azerbaijan's Air Force."
"We asked the ICAO to notify the opposing side in order to prevent
negative incidents," he said, adding that the Montreal-based body
forwarded that letter to Armenia.
Bako Sahakian, the president of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh
republic, condemned the threat and warned through a spokesman that
any attempt to thwart the planned flights would meet with an "adequate
response" from the Karabakh Armenian military.
"If Azerbaijan resorts to such actions, it will trigger unpredictable
developments," Sahakian's press secretary, Davit Babayan, told RFE/RL's
Armenian Service.
"Such threats do not scare us, they only discredit Azerbaijan," Babayan
said. "We will go ahead with exploiting our airport as planned."
Flights to and from the airport, located 8 kilometers east of
Stepanakert, were discontinued in 1991 amid intensifying armed
clashes in and around Karabakh that degenerated into a full-scale
Armenian-Azerbaijani war.
Transport communication between the territory and the outside world
has since been carried out by land, via Armenia.
The Karabakh government decided in 2009 to reopen the airport, severely
damaged during the 1991-94 war. Its $3 million reconstruction is now
nearing completion.
A regular flight service between Stepanakert and Yerevan is scheduled
to be launched on May 9, a public holiday in Karabakh that will mark
the 19th anniversary of a major military victory over Azerbaijan.
Dmitry Atbashian, head of the local civil aviation authority, assured
journalists earlier this year that flight security "will be ensured 100
percent," despite the airport's proximity to the heavily militarized
"line of contact" separating Armenian and Azerbaijani forces.
Atbashian also announced that the Stepanakert-Yerevan flights would be
carried out by a newly established Karabakh airline, Artsakh Air. He
said its fleet of aircraft would consist of three Canadian-made CRJ200
passenger jets.
http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/44502