Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s decision — to be the first passenger on the Yerevan-Stepanakert flight — reflects the Republic of Armenia’s position on opening the Stepanakert airport, said RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs press spokesperson Tigran Balayan, speaking to Epress.am about Turkish foreign minister Ahmed Davutoglu’s earlier statement that Armenia should “stop taking provocative steps.”
As previously reported, Davutoglu, responding to Azerbaijani delegation member Rafael Huseynov’s question on the matter at a PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) meeting, said that the question of the airport was not discussed at the Committee of Ministers, and that the OSCE Minsk Group is currently dealing with this. “If there is a need, then we can definitely discuss this issue,” he said.
Earlier, RA presidential press spokesperson Armen Arzumanyan confirmed that the Armenian president’s plans to be the first passenger on the maiden flight is still in effect.
Note, Karabakh’s sole airport was closed in 1991 after a bloody war in which the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan. The republic is populated mainly by ethnic Armenians and exists today as a de-facto independent state under an uneasy ceasefire. OSCE-brokered efforts to resolve its status have so far been unsuccessful.