Azerbaijan plans to build three airports in Nagorno-Karabakh, one of which will be ready in autumn and intends to invest 2.2 billion manat ($ 1.3 billion) in the region this year, according to the article.

It notes that after the peace treaty that ended last year’s war in Karabakh, Baku took control of several districts in the region, including those lost during the war in the early 1990s.

“We have already begun construction of an airport in Fuzuli. We are also planning to build two more airports in Lachin and Zangilan. All of them will be international airports and will allow both foreigners and local residents to freely travel to the city of Shusha,” Reuters cites President Aliyev as saying.

"It is difficult to predict the timing of construction. Demining operations create certain difficulties, but we expect that the airport in Fizuli will be ready in early autumn of this year," he added.

Touching upon the return of refugees to the region, President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan intends to do this as quickly as possible, according to the article.

"I do not want to announce specific timetables, although I have them. We will return the refugees in stages and as soon as possible. The Azerbaijani population will also return to the territories that are currently under the control of the peacekeeping forces," Reuters quotes the Azerbaijani president as saying.

The article also recalls that on 10 November 2020, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia signed a joint statement to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the statement, Russian peacekeepers deployed along the corridor connecting Karabakh with Armenia will stay in the region for at least five years. Turkey, a close ally of Baku, has jointly with Russia opened a ceasefire monitoring center in Azerbaijan.

More about: Ilham-Aliyev   Karabakh