Azerbaijan’s statements, with respect to its readiness to strike at the civil aircrafts heading toward the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), are absurd, NKR Defense Minister Movses Hakobyan stated during a press conference on Thursday.  

“Of course, the adversary can do this. But I would like to remind that we, too, could do the same and destroy the planes heading to [the Azerbaijani capital,] Baku. But we have never permitted ourselves to make such statements,” Hakobyan recalled. 

In his words, the NKR Anti-Aircraft Defense has “escorted” 2,226 aircrafts so far this year to Azerbaijani territory. “The talk on destroying one another’s planes in the air space is inappropriate for serious people, and the international community will not tolerate such actions,” the Minister stressed, and added that once the flights commence at the NKR capital city’s Stepanakert Airport, he intends to visit the Armenian capital city Yerevan solely by plane. “[And] I don’t think the Azerbaijanis will dare to carry out [their] threats,” Movses Hakobyan concluded.