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Rena Murshud read more After the Armenian occupation, the large-scale construction
projects carried out by Azerbaijan in the Garabagh economic region
and East Zangazur started to worry Yerevan a lot. It's no secret
that Pashinyan expressed his concern about the ongoing
reconstruction works and resettlement of the population in the
territories in an interview with the Euronews TV channel a few
weeks ago. Even behind this, some Armenian bloggers seriously
criticized Pashinyan with their rational approach, expressed
opinions in favour of Azerbaijan, and admitted that the
Azerbaijan's leadership is truly successful.
Apparently, the Pashinyan administration, which wants to draw
conclusions from criticism, wanted to sign a randomly chosen
project. However, as always, the Armenian leadership grossly
violated the rules and laws. We are talking, of course, about the
airport in Gafan, which is located near the Azerbaijan-Armenia
border, and has been unused for years. In fact, the mentioned
airport operated in a limited form during the Soviet rule. However,
after the collapse of the regime, when the borders were separated,
the airport was unusable due to certain insecurity. It should be
noted that the Gafan airport is only a few tens of meters away from
the border with Azerbaijan. It is even possible to see the
territory of the airport with a plain view from the border.
Considering that the peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia
has not yet been signed, it is inevitable that planes flying from
the airport will violate the airspace of Azerbaijan. For this
reason, putting the facility into operation is not accepted by
Azerbaijan according to the norms of international law.
Political analyst Elkhan Shikhaliyev, who made a comment to Azernews about the issue, also confirmed these
views and noted that it is absurd for the Armenian leadership to
agree to such activities that may violate the border rules.
"I consider this step of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinyan, who recently visited the Gafan airport to be put into
operation again, an ill-considered decision. First of all, the
Gafan airport is located at the point of contact with Azerbaijan,
which Armenia considers an enemy, and I must note that a peace
treaty has not been signed between the two countries. For this
reason, Pashinyan's spending of nearly 2 million for the
restoration and reuse of Gafan airport, which was closed after the
1990s, is just a waste of money. Also, the opening of the airport
at such a moment can be considered as another plan for
provocations."
Elkhan Shikhaliyev linked Armenia's taking such a step with the
failure it faced at the UN.
"During the discussion of Azerbaijan's Garabagh issues at the
meeting of the UN Security Council, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of
firing at the Gafan airport as an aggressive opponent. However, the
UN showed Armenia its rightful place. Armenia was especially
disappointed by the fact that the organization did not sign any
serious documents against Azerbaijan," the military expert
noted.
The pundit also considered it inadequate for Armenia to start
operating the airport close to the territory of Azerbaijan without
signing a peace treaty with official Baku.
"We must take into account that during the flights, Armenia will
in any case violate the airspace of Azerbaijan. And Azerbaijan will
certainly not turn a blind eye to it," Shikhaliyev said.
The political analyst added that before opening the airport,
Pashinyan should discuss and resolve the issues of delimitation and
demarcation, opening of communications, border recognition at the
table with the Azerbaijani leadership.
According to him, Armenia's desire is actually to deliberately
direct the opinions of international powers to the Zangazur
corridor. "Pashinyan is trying to ensure some kind of security by
turning the area (corridor) that will be used as a communication
route in the future into a strategic space," the expert
emphasized.
Talking about the strategic importance of the airport, the
political expert also touched on the Iranian factor.
"We know that at the same time, Armenia is acting together with
Iran on the non-opening of the Zangazur Corridor. Therefore, at the
next stage, the escalation will manifest itself in the direction of
the Gorus-Gafan-Zangazur corridor of Armenia, in the direction of
Mehri Agrar Ordubad, especially in the route of the road
communication intersection with Iran. One of the cunning intentions
of Armenia is to drag Azerbaijan into new provocations. It wants to
make these efforts through communication, future conflicts at Gafan
airport, and the possibility of firing against any planes or the
airport. In a word, just as Armenia wants to build a metallurgical
plant near Sadarak, it also wants to provoke Azerbaijan by
launching the airport located a few meters away from the
border.
In addition, expert Elkhan Shikhaliyev, speaking about the
secret plans of Iran, which is interested in the operation of the
airport, again linked the issue with the Zangazur corridor. He
noted that in the future, if the Zangezur corridor is not
convenient for Armenia and Iran, he is thinking of using the
airport of Iran and Armenia as an alternative option.
"Nevertheless, both Armenia and Iran clearly do not understand
that neither the use of the airport nor the construction of gold
mines can be possible if they violate the norms of international
law. Because this is considered a red line for Azerbaijan," the
expert added.