Gafan Airport: Armenia spins spiral of escalation in region

The other day, contrary to all international norms, and indeed to logic in general, Armenia announced the commissioning of an airport in Gafan, bordering Azerbaijan. Such a step, of course, is a provocation by Yerevan, which intends to interfere with any peaceful initiatives in the region, in particular, the demarcation and delimitation of borders. The consequences, namely, the threat to civil aviation, do not bother the Armenian side at all. The Pashinyan government does not give a damn about those who can use this airport, Trend reports.

First, we note that the Gafan region occupies an important place in Zangazur. Stretching between Nakhchivan and Karabakh, it is located in an area surrounded by the mountain ranges of Bargushad, Zangazur and Mehri, in the gorges of Gigi and Okhchu. Until 1920, it was a province of Zangazur District of the Ganja province. As a result of political games in 1917-1920, like other regions of Zangazur, Gafan became an administrative region of the Armenian SSR, and from September 9, 1930, it functioned as an independent region.

Now Armenia is using the city to slow down the process of delimitation of the conditional border. The Gafan airport is located just a few meters from the conditional border between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The process of delimitation of the state border between the two countries through the relevant commissions is currently at an early stage. In a situation where there is no progress and the basis for the delimitation of the boundary has not been determined, the use of infrastructure such as an airport in the immediate vicinity of the notional boundary line serves to predetermine the outcome of the delimitation process. During the process of establishing state boundaries, it is important that the parties refrain from unilateral steps that could interfere with proper distribution.

In addition, the fact that the airport and its runway are located in close proximity to the conditional border of the two countries, between which there is a de facto tense military situation (and Yerevan, which is set on revenge, supports it), the operation of civilian flights to the airport in the border zone with a high risk, because there are military installations and troops. The opening of the Gafan airport without the consent of Baku may lead to tension between the parties and the emergence of unforeseen risks for civil aviation. But the Pashinyan government seems to care little. Armenia understands that Azerbaijan does not intend to sit silently and watch what is happening and hopes that some incident will happen, so that there is an opportunity to raise this issue in the international arena against our country.

Therefore, the Armenian planes now landing and taking off at the Gafan airport fly within 200-300 meters from the conditional border, and this does not at all correspond to the existing international practice in this area.

Why?

First, we note that there are border and cross-border airports in the world. But in all cases, this is regulated by legislation - either pan-European or bilateral. So, for example, Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg airport simultaneously serves three different cities: Basel (Switzerland), Mulhouse (France) and Freiburg (Germany). Basel is the largest of the three and also the closest to the airport, as reflected in its IATA code. The airport is located entirely in France, Switzerland enjoys some extraterritorial rights thanks to a special bilateral agreement that makes it in many respects not a French, but a Swiss airport. The German authorities were also represented in some government bodies.

It should be taken into account that all international documents, including the Chicago Convention governing relations in the field of civil aviation, are based on cooperation, mutual trust and recognition between the participating states. In world practice, the operation of airports on the territory close to the borders of states is based on the cooperation and coordination of the relevant states in each case and excludes unilateral action. For example, Nicosia Airport on the island of Cyprus has ceased operations due to lack of mutual agreement. Similarly, Gibraltar Airport operates under an agreement between the UK and Spain, since 2008 both parties have disputed the operation of the airport.

It is not clear why Armenia suddenly imagined that it could be unique in such a reality, but one-way flights to the Gafan airport do not correspond to any framework and serve to deliberately aggravate the situation.

Secondly, in international practice, states determine the minimum distance and minimum flight height of aircraft over military installations and borders. For example, under US regulations, aircraft approaching their border must fly at a minimum altitude of 2,000 feet (600 m). In addition, sometimes there are restrictions on crossing the border. That is, you cannot approach it for a few meters. In fact, for the Americans, these are all military threats. Low-flying aircraft of one side, approaching and landing at an airport located in the war zone of the two states, pose a military risk to the other side.

But the planes of Armenia flying to or from Gafan are not going to follow any rules and will inevitably violate our airspace, because we are literally 10 meters apart and, on top of that, there are no guarantees that the flights will be truly civilian, as Armenia alleges.

Everyone knows perfectly well that the word of Yerevan is not worth a penny. As recent history has shown, there are serious grounds to believe that under the guise of "civilian" Armenia will try to use this airport for military purposes, as it did with the Khojaly airport. Everyone remembers very well how the airport in Khojaly has been repeatedly declared international and restarted several times over the past decades, but in practice it was only engaged in serving as a landing site for Armenian helicopters, transferring Armenian military and weapons to the territory of Azerbaijan.

If it turns out that Yerevan is transporting military cargo and a threat to our country is created through the operation of this airport, then, of course, this threat will be neutralized. Azerbaijan has all the possibilities for this.

An analysis of existing similar cases shows that the operation of airports located near the border takes place without exception on the basis of mutual activity and cooperation of the respective states, where unilateral activity is excluded. In the case of the Gafan airport, not only is there no agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, not even a peace treaty has been concluded, the signing of which is delayed solely through the fault of Yerevan.

Whatever the Armenian government tries to come up with, such unilateral provocative steps by Armenia as the opening of the Gafan airport will not go unanswered. To implement such cross-border projects, Armenia must sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, then it is necessary to delimit and demarcate the border, and at the next stage, hold mutual consultations in order to reach agreements on cross-border projects. Only after all this can we talk about their implementation. Armenia's disregard for international law and civil aviation rules, the construction of an airport a few dozen meters from the border of another state with which Yerevan has no agreements is nonsense.