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AZERBAIJAN THREATENS TO DOWN ARMENIAN FLIGHTS
Agence France Presse
March 16, 2011 Wednesday 2:16 PM GMT
Azerbaijan on Wednesday threatened to shoot down civilian planes flying
to disputed Nagorny Karabakh if the separatist Armenian authorities
who control the region reopen an airport there.
Azerbaijan considers Karabakh to be occupied by the Armenians, and
Baku's state aviation agency said it has told the International Civil
Aviation Organisation (ICAO) that the region's airspace was closed
and any flights would be unauthorised.
"According to the law on aviation, it is even possible to physically
destroy aeroplanes which are heading there," said Arif Mammadov, the
director of Azerbaijan's Civil Aviation Administration, in comments
to local media.
"We asked the ICAO to notify the opposing side in order to prevent
incidents," he said.
The separatist Karabakh authorities have been rebuilding the airport
near their capital Stepanakert and plan to restart commercial flights
to Yerevan in May.
The airport has been closed since the outbreak of the Karabakh war in
the early 1990s, which saw ethnic Armenian forces backed by Yerevan
seize control over the region from Baku amid fighting that left an
estimated 30,000 dead.
An official at the separatist Karabakh presidential office said that
"criminal" threats would not stop the planned flights, which are set
to begin amid increasing tensions and exchanges of gunfire across
the ceasefire line which has divided the two sides since the end of
the war.
"We are determined to open the airport, no matter whom it vexes
in Azerbaijan," the official, David Babaian, told the PanArmenian
news agency.
"Any slight attempt Azerbaijan might take will be fraught with
unpredictable repercussions for Azerbaijan itself," he said.
Azerbaijan has threatened to use force to win back Karabakh if peace
talks do not yield satisfactory results, while Armenia has warned of
large-scale retaliation if Baku launches any military action.
From: A. Papazian
Agence France Presse
March 16, 2011 Wednesday 2:16 PM GMT
Azerbaijan on Wednesday threatened to shoot down civilian planes flying
to disputed Nagorny Karabakh if the separatist Armenian authorities
who control the region reopen an airport there.
Azerbaijan considers Karabakh to be occupied by the Armenians, and
Baku's state aviation agency said it has told the International Civil
Aviation Organisation (ICAO) that the region's airspace was closed
and any flights would be unauthorised.
"According to the law on aviation, it is even possible to physically
destroy aeroplanes which are heading there," said Arif Mammadov, the
director of Azerbaijan's Civil Aviation Administration, in comments
to local media.
"We asked the ICAO to notify the opposing side in order to prevent
incidents," he said.
The separatist Karabakh authorities have been rebuilding the airport
near their capital Stepanakert and plan to restart commercial flights
to Yerevan in May.
The airport has been closed since the outbreak of the Karabakh war in
the early 1990s, which saw ethnic Armenian forces backed by Yerevan
seize control over the region from Baku amid fighting that left an
estimated 30,000 dead.
An official at the separatist Karabakh presidential office said that
"criminal" threats would not stop the planned flights, which are set
to begin amid increasing tensions and exchanges of gunfire across
the ceasefire line which has divided the two sides since the end of
the war.
"We are determined to open the airport, no matter whom it vexes
in Azerbaijan," the official, David Babaian, told the PanArmenian
news agency.
"Any slight attempt Azerbaijan might take will be fraught with
unpredictable repercussions for Azerbaijan itself," he said.
Azerbaijan has threatened to use force to win back Karabakh if peace
talks do not yield satisfactory results, while Armenia has warned of
large-scale retaliation if Baku launches any military action.
From: A. Papazian