The Stepanakert airport will operate any way, Foreign Minister of Nagornyy Karabakh Republic, Karen Mirzoyan, said in an interview with Radio Liberty. "This is a sovereign decision of the Karabakh authorities and despite all the threats and other steps by the authorities of Azerbaijan, it will be brought to life sooner or later. It is already for more than 20 years that Azerbaijan's laws are invalid at the territory of the NKR", - the minister said and added the OSCE MG co-chairmen as well as all the political forces more or less aware about the matter fully share such an approach of the Karabakh authorities.
"Everybody emphasize that any threat to shoot down a civilian aircraft or any similar step is absolutely inadmissible. We mentioned about that in a letter on behalf of the foreign minister to UN secretary general in autumn 2012. The letter says that the flights will be just of the humanitarian nature and have no other purposes. As for the political games and various threats as well as the disinformation started by Azerbaijan, they are just another attempt to distort the negotiating process and deflect attention of the world community away from the illegal and disruptive steps taken by Azerbaijan", - the NKR foreign minister said.
The Stepanakert airport was built in 1974 and has not been functioning since 1992. The new terminal of the airport was built in 2008 and is going to implement flight on the route Stepanakert-Yerevan-Stepanakert. However, the airport does not operate because of the threats of Azerbaijan to shoot down planes from Stepanakert.