Chairman: Gafan airport to remain as museum exhibit, like Khojaly airport

Azerbaijani Parliament’s Defence, Security, and Anti-Corruption Committee Chairman Ziyafat Asgarov has said that opening Gafan airport is a unilateral provocative step, and it will not go unanswered.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee noted that Armenia is now preparing for such provocative unilateral steps as the opening of Gafan airport, APA reports. 

"Armenia has no agreement with Azerbaijan regarding Gafan airport. One point should also be noted. The Gafan airport functioned during the Soviet era as well. However, at that time there were actually no borders, as all the republics were part of a single space. And now Azerbaijan is an independent, sovereign state,” he said.

Asgarov emphasised that when building the Zangilan airport in Azerbaijan, a distance away from the border was chosen, even taking into account the possible wind force that could affect the route, so that there would be no risk of aircrafts entering the territory of Armenia.

"And the Gafan airport is very close to the positions of Azerbaijan. In such a case, when landing and taking off from the airport, the planes may violate the airspace of Azerbaijan. On the other hand, it is absurd that Armenia has built an airport on the border with a state with which it has not signed a peace treaty. So far, Armenia has postponed the opening of the Gafan airport several times ‘for security reasons’. Moreover, there is every reason to believe that Armenia will try to use this airport for military rather than civilian purposes.

Azerbaijan will not allow its airspace to be violated, therefore Gafan airport will face the fate of Khojaly airport, and Gafan airport will also remain as a museum exhibit. For the implementation of such cross-border projects, it is important for Armenia to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, to delimit and demarcate the borders, and at the next stage to conduct mutual consultations and reach agreements on cross-border projects. It is only after all this that we can talk about the implementation of cross-border projects," he added.

It should be noted that on August 17, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan flew from Yerevan to Gafan. According to him, from next week regular flights will be operated from Yerevan to the city of Gafan, which is located near the border with Azerbaijan.