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As soon as Armenian Defence Minister Seyran Ohanyan, National Security Council Secretary Arthur Baghdasaryan and the CSTO Secretary-general Nikolai Bordyuzha made statements commenting on Azerbaijan's threats on shooting down civilian planes bound for Stepanakert airport, Azerbaijan changed its tone abruptly.

Yesterday, the Azerbaijani information agency 1news.az informed that the Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov in the frameworks of winter session of NATO International School in Azerbaijan (NISA) “Challenges to Security in the Caspian Region” also touched the issue of resumption of flights to Stepanakert airport.

“Azerbaijan, surely, is not going to shoot down civilian aircraft. According to the Chicago Convention, there are certain rules that are recognized by Azerbaijan. It is the rule of halting any unlawful flight in the air in order to impede it and this is aimed at forcing the violator to land at a particular airfield,” Araz Azimov said.

In the same time, Azimov stated that “these rules are adopted and are used throughout the world,” and the Azerbaijani side “will not allow committing illegal flights in its airspace.” “Thus, it’s wrong when someone tries to speculate in advance whether Azerbaijan will or will not shoot down civilian targets. It’s not professional attitude and it is more like a speculation,” he said.

Referring to the statement made by Nikolai Bordyuzha, who noted that had perceived the threats of Azerbaijan to destroy civilian aircraft as a joke, Azimov noticed that it was the statement of the CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha that was to be taken as “a rough, bad joke.”

As soon as the NKR authorities revealed their intentions to resume flights in Stepanakert airport, the Azerbaijani side made a statement in 2011 that the official Baku may destroy aircrafts, which will land at the airport, built in the city of Stepanakert. On the 18th of January 2013 Azerbaijani government approved the law on using the airspace of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The adopted document enables the Azerbaijani Air Forces to fire in the direction of flying objects in NKR terretory and to shoot down Armenian civilian aircrafts.

On 29 January 2013 CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha, said he doesn’t consider the threats of Baku to shoot down civilian aircraft serious and takes it as a joke. In its turn, Security Council Secretary Arthur Baghdasaryan, commented on threats of Baku and said that such medieval way of thinking cannot be acceptable in the 21st century, and any fact of attacking on civilian aircrafts is reprehensible. Earlier, on 18 January 2013, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, commenting on the statement voiced by official Baku, that Azerbaijan will not allow the exploitation of Stepanakert airport, stated that the anti-aircraft defence forces of Armenian Armed Forces will secure the operation and all the flights of civil aircrafts.