An important fact seems to have been overlooked in the analyses on the airport being built [by Azerbaijan] in Varanda (Azerbaijani: Fizuli). Iranian Studies specialist Vardan Voskanyan wrote about this on Facebook.

"At the end of February, the dictator of Baku [i.e., Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev] literally announced that its 'runway would be able to receive all types of aircraft, including the heaviest and the cargo [planes],' which is very strange at first glance if we consider the [Azerbaijani] claim that the airport is being built to allegedly facilitate visits to Shushi.

It is obvious that the construction of an airport endowed with such capabilities is unequivocally aimed not only or, more precisely, not at the creation of civilian, but military infrastructure which, taking into account the geographical and strategically significant location of the area, will actually become a military base operating against not only Armenia and Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)], but also Russia and Iran.

Besides, aside from Azerbaijan and Turkey, it can be used also by Israel and NATO for anti-Russian and anti-Iranian purposes," Voskanyan added in particular.