Azerbaijan will do a very foolish thing should it venture an attempt to shoot down civilian planes heading for Stepanakert airport, ARF Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office Director said.

“Shooting down Artsakh-bound civilian planes will signal the start of a new war,” Kiro Manoyan told a news conference in Yerevan. “We can’t exclude such a possibility but similar threats arouse deep concerns and the international community, specifically the Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group should condemn the statements made by Azerbaijani officials.”

On March 23, U.S. ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch slammed Azerbaijan’s threats as unacceptable.

Earlier, Baku threatened to shoot down civilian planes flying to Karabakh after reopening of Stepanakert airport. As Baku's state aviation agency said it has informed the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that the region's airspace was closed and any flights would be unauthorized. "According to the law on aviation, it is even possible to physically destroy airplanes which are heading there," Arif Mammadov, director of Azerbaijan's Civil Aviation Administration, said in comments to local media. "We asked the ICAO to notify the opposing side in order to prevent incidents," he said.

Stepanakert airport will start operating in May 2011.