Official Baku has not commented on reports of the Armenian side on the launch of the airport in the Khojaly town in the occupied territory of Nagorno-Karabakh by the Armenians.
The announcement was made yesterday in Yerevan. According to Armenian officials, ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) has agreed to service the airport flying.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry and the Civil Aviation Administration have not yet released any statements on the matter.
Earlier (in May 2011), the Armenian side stated its readiness to start the airport and the flights, but after warnings from Baku that the flights would be stopped, the Armenian side rejected this idea. Baku also said it would not allow certification of the airport at the international level.
Now the Armenian side does not hide that it wants to use the situation with Safarov's pardon to run the airport. To this end, the Armenian diplomacy began an active campaign. In this contest must be considered the statement by U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman, who warned Baku about the inadmissibility of shooting down civilian aircraft in Karabakh.
In the coming days we may expect new diplomatic demarches by the Armenian lobby and officials.
At the same time, the Armenian experts agree that the war of nerves has started and none of the parties is sure of the others. Thus, Armenians admit that Azerbaijan can knock down a civilian plane, no matter what it is.
At the same time, a number of foreign experts do not rule out that Baku has agreed with the Armenian plans to run the airport, otherwise the Armenian side would not risk running it. If it is not so, we should expect deterioration of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, and increase in the pressure on Armenia by Azerbaijan's ally - Turkey. In particular, Ankara may close its air space to international flights from Armenia.
In turn, defense experts believe that Azerbaijan has the technical capability to disrupt the Khojaly airport, not to mention the military action.
* The airport in Khojaly was built in the 1970s and serviced flights from Baku to Karabakh. Since capturing the town and the airport of Khojaly by Armenians in February 1992, the airport has been dormant. Two years ago, the Armenian side began the restoration of the airport. -02B-
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