Azerbaijan never had any intention of shooting down flights to Karabakh, the country's deputy foreign minister has said, in what appears to be an effort to back away from previous statements threatening to do just that. From AZE.az:
[Deputy Foreign Minister Araz] Azimov said that Azerbaijan was not ready to shoot down civilian airplanes, as Armenians and their supporters are constantly crying.
"In accordance with the Chicago convention, specific rules exist which are recognized by the Azerbaijani side, which provide for the prevention of illegal flights and forcing them to land in specific airports. So it is not true, when someone earlier tried to speculate that 'Azerbaijan will shoot down civilian flights," Azimov reported.
"The Armenian side, speculating on these questions, attempts to put pressure on Azerbaijan by conducting these flights to the Khojaly airport. Recall that these territories are occupied and opening an illegal air corridor means an occupation of airspace," he said.
A number of Azerbaijani officials have threatened to shoot down flights landing in Karabakh, from the military to the civil aviation authority to the cabinet of ministers. While they may not have specified that they would shoot down civilian flights, given that the primary purpose of the Karabakh airport is for civilian use, the message Azerbaijan was attempting to send was clear.
Anyway, it appears that Azerbaijan either has changed its mind about the usefulness of shooting down civilian flights or, as is more likely, never intended to do so but thought there may be something to gain by making such threats. So it's basically the same thing that happened two years ago.
The whole episode (assuming this is in fact the end of it) looks like a net negative for Azerbaijan, though, as it's taken attention away from the fact that most of the international community, including the OSCE and the U.S., have opposed the opening of the airport. Now, if the airport does in fact open, the story will be Azerbaijan's threat to shoot down planes rather than the Armenians' unproductive actions. Seems like an own goal for Azerbaijani diplomacy.
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
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