Yesterday Serzh Sargsyan, the President of the Republic of Armenia, meeting with voters in the administrative district of Ajapnyak, and Eduard Nalbandyan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, answering a question of Azerbaijan’s public television at a press conference in Tbilisi, both talked about opening the Stepanakert airport at the same time. S. Sargsyan said: “The airport will be put into operation, and there can be no doubt about this. And all the reasoning that it will be used for exceptionally military purposes is a tale. If I see there is a danger, I will surely be the first passenger.” The Minister of Foreign Affairs, in his turn, referring to the co-chairmen’s statement, which urges the parties not to politicize the issue of opening the airport, stated: “In Armenia – by the way, in Nagorno-Karabakh too – it has been stated many times at the highest level that opening an airport in Stepanakert pursues only humanitarian and civil goals.” While the above-mentioned statements were being made, yesterday the enemy regularly fired shots at the houses in the village of Chinar, region of Tavush, all afternoon. https://www.aravot.am/2013/02/12/196132/ www.aravot.am inquired of Davit Apinyan, an expert of Arevelk, a center for strategic analysis, whether one could conclude that Azerbaijan had become more aggressive. He replied: “We don’t care about their aggressiveness. This is an emotional issue. As for the geostrategic leaders’ response, it is a complete and clear response, which testifies to the fact that Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic will use the airport for peaceful purposes. As for whether Azerbaijan will become more aggressive or not; it is their problem. The important thing is that their officials have made a statement lately, by which they denied that they would attack civil aircraft. This clearly confirms the fact that Azerbaijan fears the response, which will follow, if Azerbaijan attacks Armenian aircraft. It can clearly be read between the lines that the enemy is afraid of our response more than they should be.” As for the shooting in the bordering villages and the above-mentioned statements, the military expert said: “The shooting is continuous, since we are at war with our enemy. I don’t know, it is hard to connect it with the statements, but I am sure that there will be response shortly.” Summing up the conversation, we asked whether one could consider the issue of the Stepanakert airport to be closed; it would be opened, period. D. Apinyan replied: “It will surely be opened; don’t doubt it for a second. It will be opened and exploited despite the
ungrounded blah-blah of our enemy. And if the civil aircraft is attacked, they will surely get a response.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
