Menu
Latest
Menu
Latest
Commentary

Issue of Stepanakert airport increases tensions. Azerbaijan repeats warnings ahead of imminent opening of airport in Nagorno-Karabakh.

17 July 2012

The Government of Azerbaijan has repeated that the opening of Stepanakert Airport in Nagorno-Karabakh is unacceptable. The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elman Abdullayev said that "Implementation of flights over the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is illegal according to international law," according to the Azerbaijani Press Agency (APA). Referring to a press statement by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair representatives at the end of their visit to the region on Friday Abdullaev said that "The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in their statement called the sides to act in accordance with international legal norms."

In a separate statement the Azerbaijani Civili Aviation Authority said that Azerbaijan considers the airspace over Nagorno-Karabakh as its airspace and those that intrude in it as violators of that air space and appropriate action will be taken. The Authority stopped short of repeating earlier warnings that Azerbaijan will shoot down airplanes that violated the airspace over Nagorno-Karabakh.

There are indications that the opening of Stepanakert Airport is now imminent. Armenian media has been reporting for several weeks that the airport is ready for use. It is likely that the first flight will occur soon after Presidential elections in the territory which will be held on Thursday (19th July). The elections have also been condemned by Azerbaijan as an Armenian provocation.

Commonspace.eu political editor said in a comment: "It is likely that we are entering another tense period on the line of contact seperating Armenian and Azerbaijani forces around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. Azerbaijan will react if Stepanakert airport opens but within limits. In their statement last Friday the diplomats from the Minsk Group co-Chair countries tried to introduce wording that may appease Azerbaijan, but once pictures of planes flying in and out of Stepanakert airport start appearing the pressure on the government of Azerbaijan to react is going to be very high. As a member of the UN Security Council Azerbaijan will likely raise the issue in the world body but the prospect of Azerbaijan shooting down civilian planes is pretty much excluded."

 

source:commonspace.eu

photo: Stepanakert airport

Related articles

Editor's choice
News
Borrell tells the European Parliament that the situation in Afghanistan was critical, but the EU will remain engaged
Trending

Borrell tells the European Parliament that the situation in Afghanistan was critical, but the EU will remain engaged

9 June 2021
Borrell underlined that the European Union will make every effort to support the peace process and to remain a committed partner to the Afghan people. "Of course, we will have to take into account the evolving situation, but disengagement is not an option.  We are clear on that: there is no alternative to a negotiated political settlement, through inclusive peace talks.
Editor's choice
News
NATO Chief says war is on Europe's doorstep, and warns against complacency
Trending

NATO Chief says war is on Europe's doorstep, and warns against complacency

12 December 2025
Russia could attack a Nato country within the next five years, the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, said in a stark new warning. "Nato's own defences can hold for now," Rutte warned in Berlin, but conflict was "next door" to Europe and he feared "too many are quietly complacent, and too many don't feel the urgency, too many believe that time is on our side. "Russia is already escalating its covert campaign against our societies," Rutte said in a speech in Germany. "We must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured." Earlier this month, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said his country was not planning to go to war with Europe, but it was ready "right now" if Europe wanted to - or started a war. But similar reassurances were given by Moscow in 2022, just before 200,000 Russian troops crossed the border and invaded Ukraine. Putin has accused European countries of hindering US efforts to bring peace in Ukraine - a reference to the role Ukraine's European allies have recently played in trying to change a US peace plan to end the war, whose initial draft was seen as favouring Russia. But Putin was not sincere, Nato's secretary-general said in the German capital, Berlin. Supporting Ukraine, he added, was a guarantee for European security. "Just imagine if Putin got his way; Ukraine under the boot of Russian occupation, his forces pressing against a longer border with Nato, and the significantly increased risk of an armed attack against us." Russia's economy has been on a war footing for more than three years now - its factories churn out ever more supplies of drones, missiles and artillery shells. According to a recent report by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Russia has been producing each month around 150 tanks, 550 infantry fighting vehicles, 120 Lancet drones and more than 50 artillery pieces. The UK, and most of its Western allies, are simply not anywhere near this point. Analysts say it would take years for Western Europe's factories to come close to matching Russia's mass-production of weapons. "Allied defence spending and production must rise rapidly, our armed forces must have what they need to keep us safe," the Nato chief said.

Popular

Editor's choice
News
NATO Chief says war is on Europe's doorstep, and warns against complacency
Trending

NATO Chief says war is on Europe's doorstep, and warns against complacency

12 December 2025
Russia could attack a Nato country within the next five years, the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, said in a stark new warning. "Nato's own defences can hold for now," Rutte warned in Berlin, but conflict was "next door" to Europe and he feared "too many are quietly complacent, and too many don't feel the urgency, too many believe that time is on our side. "Russia is already escalating its covert campaign against our societies," Rutte said in a speech in Germany. "We must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured." Earlier this month, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said his country was not planning to go to war with Europe, but it was ready "right now" if Europe wanted to - or started a war. But similar reassurances were given by Moscow in 2022, just before 200,000 Russian troops crossed the border and invaded Ukraine. Putin has accused European countries of hindering US efforts to bring peace in Ukraine - a reference to the role Ukraine's European allies have recently played in trying to change a US peace plan to end the war, whose initial draft was seen as favouring Russia. But Putin was not sincere, Nato's secretary-general said in the German capital, Berlin. Supporting Ukraine, he added, was a guarantee for European security. "Just imagine if Putin got his way; Ukraine under the boot of Russian occupation, his forces pressing against a longer border with Nato, and the significantly increased risk of an armed attack against us." Russia's economy has been on a war footing for more than three years now - its factories churn out ever more supplies of drones, missiles and artillery shells. According to a recent report by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Russia has been producing each month around 150 tanks, 550 infantry fighting vehicles, 120 Lancet drones and more than 50 artillery pieces. The UK, and most of its Western allies, are simply not anywhere near this point. Analysts say it would take years for Western Europe's factories to come close to matching Russia's mass-production of weapons. "Allied defence spending and production must rise rapidly, our armed forces must have what they need to keep us safe," the Nato chief said.