Airport out of destination Another adventure of restless premier

"Regular flights on the Yerevan-Kapan direction will be launched next week," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has announced.

“Today we decided that we are ready to operate regular flights. On August 19, on the occasion of Kapan Day, a representative flight will take place, after which there will be regular flights from next week,” the prime minister wrote.

The talk that regular flights will be carried out from Yerevan to the city of Kapan, bordering Azerbaijan, has been circulating in the land of stones for a long time. In particular, back in April 2023, a Czech-made 19-seat passenger plane made a test flight from Yerevan to the Kapan airport.

However, at that point, Armenian Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Gnel Sanosyan said that "certain problems arose during the test flight". And this week, after a trip to Zangazur, Pashinyan again raised the issue of launching regular flights from Yerevan to Kapan. However, to want is not to want to do. This idea of the Armenian government does have "certain problems".

The fact is that the construction of an airport a few dozen meters from the border of another state with which Armenia does not have a peace agreement is nonsense. From Azerbaijani positions, one can even consider what is happening inside this airport. That is why until now Armenia has postponed the opening of the airport several times “on security ground”.

On the other hand, planes landing and taking off from the Kapan airport will inevitably violate the airspace of Azerbaijan. And here Article 6 of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On Aviation” already comes into force, according to which, a plane that crosses the state border of the Republic of Azerbaijan without permission, violates the rules for flying over the state border of the Republic of Azerbaijan and commits other violations of the procedure for using the airspace of the Republic of Azerbaijan, is recognized as a plane violator. These planes may be subjected to forced landing at the request of the relevant executive authority.

Someone may object to us by asking how we can explain flights of planes of the Azerbaijani national air carrier from Baku to Nakhchivan through the airspace of Armenia. Indeed, they do. But in this case, there is agreement on the route fees of the international organization Eurocontrol. In the case of the Kapan airport, there are no agreements with Azerbaijan. That is, Yerevan did not turn to Baku with a corresponding request, and Baku, accordingly, did not give permission. Feel the difference?

In addition, there are serious reasons to believe that under the guise of a “civilian” one, Armenia will try to use this airport for military purposes, and this is a direct threat to the security of the border regions of Azerbaijan, in particular, Zangilan, which our country cannot allow, given that peaceful Azerbaijani population is already returning there. By the way, about Zangilan. When Azerbaijan was building the Zangilan airport, it chose a location at a considerable distance from the border, took into account the possible wind force that could affect the route, and thereby eliminated the risk of a plane flying into the territory of Armenia.

Without a doubt, such provocative steps by Armenia as the opening of the Kapan airport will not go unanswered. Azerbaijan will not allow violations of its own airspace, and therefore the Kapan airport will suffer the fate of Khojaly - it will remain a museum exhibit.