STEPANAKERT, Artsakh—The Artsakh Republic recently launched flights on the path to increase tourism between Artsakh and Armenia. The Artsakh Foreign Ministry was asked to comment on the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s May 25 statement criticizing the operation of the flights in Artsakh, stating that it is an “illegal economic activity.”

“Artsakh has long been a normally developing country where people, like in any other country, live and implement programs in various spheres, including tourism,” said Artsakh’s Public Relations Head Artak Nersisyan in an interview with Armenian news agency Aysor.am.



Nersisyan said that Baku “not only tries to deny this objective reality, but also does not miss the opportunity to demonstrate his flagrant ignorance of the international conventions and legal norms of regulating civil aviation.”



Azerbaijani authorities continuously try to “divert the attention of the international community from the real problems hampering the negotiation process and condition,” continued the Artsakh official, “by the relentless attempts of the Azerbaijani side to undermine the negotiation process.”



In an interview with Tert.am, the Head of the Department of Aviation Samvel Tavadyan, said that last weekend, Artsakh has already carried six passengers with the newly operated flight. “Interest among travelers is high and we have been receiving many calls from abroad, regardless of it being a conflict zone,” he said.