AZERBAIJAN: OSCE mediators warn against opening of an airport in Nagorno-Karabakh

Record ID: 217899

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: OSCE mediators warn against opening of an airport in Nagorno-Karabakh
  • Date: 15th April 2011
  • Summary: STEPANAKERT, BREAKAWAY NAGORNO-KARABAKH, AZERBAIJAN (FILE - OCTOBER 2009) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF STEPANAKERT VARIOUS OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH NATIONAL FLAG ON BALCONY STEPANAKERT, NAGORNO-KARABAKH, AZERBAIJAN (FILE - MARCH, 2011) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) NEW AIRPORT TERMINAL BUILDING VARIOUS OF FLIGHT CONTROL ROOM COMPUTERS IN FLIGHT CONTROL ROOM VIEW F
  • Embargoed: 30th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA6ABPN05RL811ZIA7YNK3LGUIX
  • Story Text: Mediators from France, Russia and the United States arrived in Azerbaijan on Thursday (April 14) for talks with President Ilham Aliyev over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region.
    Friction between Armenia and Azerbaijan has increased over Karabakh's plans to reopen an airport in the breakaway region.
    Delegates from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) warned against the resumption of flights from Kabarakh's Stepanakert airport, saying it could fuel tensions already running high.
    In a statement issued after visiting the region, OSCE mediators expressed concern that the planned opening of the airport in May "could lead to further increased tensions."
    The Minsk group co-Chairs urged the sides to reach an understanding in keeping with international conventions and agreements.
    The mainly Armenian-populated enclave broke away from Muslim Azerbaijan with the backing of Christian Armenia as the Soviet Union collapsed, and has since run its own affairs with heavy financial and military support from Yerevan.
    The last two years have seen the worst skirmishes since a 1994 ceasefire, raising fears of a return to full-blown conflict in the South Caucasus, an important route for oil and gas supplies from the Caspian region to Europe.
    Azerbaijan, its military budget bloated by oil and gas sales, had threatened to shoot down planes landing at the airport, but has since toned down its rhetoric. Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan says he plans to be on the first flight, tentatively scheduled for May 9.
    The airport was heavily damaged and closed by a war, in which Armenian-backed forces seized control of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding Azeri districts forming a land corridor with Armenia.
    Rebuilt at a cost of 3 million USD, it will have regular flights between Yerevan and the enclave, currently a five-hour drive apart along a single road snaking through mountains.
    Though not recognised as independent by any country, Nagorno-Karabakh is seeking to garner the trappings of statehood, an airport among them. Azerbaijan says this prejudices negotiations that have failed for the past 16 years to produce a peace settlement.
    The OSCE statement said the mediators "cautioned that the operation of flights to and from this airport could not be used to support any claim of a change in the current state of Nagorno-Karabakh under international law."
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