Reopening of airport in Nagorno-Karabakh should not lead to increased tension- Armenian prime minister

YEREVAN, November 13. / ARKA /. The plan to reopen the only civilian airport in Nagorno-Karabakh that was shut down nearly two decades ago, should not lead to an increase in tension, Armenian prime minister Tigran Sargsyan said today during a parliament Q&A session.

The airport is located 8 kilometers east of Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. It discontinued flights in 1991 amid intensifying armed clashes in and around Karabakh that developed into a full-scale war. Since then transport communication between Nagorno-Karabakh and the outside world has been carried out only by land via Armenia.   

The airport, severely damaged during the 1991-1992 war, was reconstructed by the government in Stepankert.

In response to news that Nagorno-Karabakh authorities plan to reopen the airport Azerbaijani State Civil Aviation Administration said  the Yerevan-Stepanakert flights would constitute an “invasion” of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized airspace and that “taking corresponding measures in connection with that is inevitable.”

The reconstructed airport is able to handle up to 100 passengers per hour. According to Armenian prime minister, this issue is in the focus of the authorities’ attention.

He said the resumption of flights between Stepanakert and Yerevan should be pressed ahead in the context of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population’s right to free movement, despite Azerbaijan’s provocative rhetoric.

In 2012 July, the U.S., Russian and French diplomats co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group, said in a statement that they “received renewed assurances from the sides that they will reject any threat or use of force against civil aircraft, pursue the matter through diplomatic steps, and refrain from politicizing the issue.” -0-