04/16/93 1045  ARMENIA SAYS IT COULD SHOOT DOWN TURKISH PLANES

By David Ljunggren

MOSCOW, April 16, Reuter - Armenia accused Turkey on Friday of flying weapons
x and troops across Armenian airspace to Azerbaijan and strongly hinted it
might try to shoot the planes down, local journalists in Yerevan said.

Separately, Itar-Tass news agency said Armenian forces had halted their latest
offensive which has swallowed up one-tenth of Azerbaijan and sent tensions in
the Transcaucasian region soaring.

The journalists in the Armenian capital quoted Armen Duliyan, head of the
Armenian defence ministry press centre, as saying Ankara had been sending 
planes up to 15 times a day to Azerbaijan with arms and troops.

It looks as though the Armenian leadership will have to warn Turkey about
the impermissibility of such actions," the journalists quoted Duliyan as 
saying.

"If such steps are pursued in the future we will have recourse to appropriate
measures. We have all the necessary means, including modern anti-aircraft
units."

Turkey, which shares a border with Armenia, has supported Azerbaijan in the
conflict over the mainly Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh region in which
more than 2,500 people have been killed since fighting erupted in 1988.

The Turkish foreign ministry said on Friday it had so far sent one plane to
Azerbaijan containing humanitarian aid.

A Turkish foreign ministry spokesman on Thursday would not comment directly
on a report by Hurriyet newspaper that a first consignment of rockets, rocket
launchers, ammunition and light weapons had arrived in Azerbaijan from Turkey.

Duliyan said Turkey had been sending up to 30 trucks a day carrying troops
and arms to the bordering Azeri autonomous territory of Nakhichevan, from where
they were flown across Armenian airspace to the Azeri capital Baku.

"All the responsibility for possible consequences will be borne by the
country which is affording military assistance over our airspace," he said.

Armenia denies any formal role in the conflict, saying that the troops 
involved in the fighting are from the enclave itself.

Tass said the Karabakh forces decided on Friday to suspend their offensive
along the entire Armenian-Azerbaijani front.

"The Karabakh authorities are reportedly ready to give independent
inspectors a chance to see for themselves on the spot that the (enclave's)
leadership is striving to achieve a ceasefire," the agency said.

Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan called for a two-stage ceasefire in
Karabakh when he arrived in the Belarus capital Minsk on Friday for a summit of
Commonwealth leaders.

"The first stage of the settlement should involve a ceasefire and securing the
protection of the Karabakh population," Tass quoted him as saying.
     
At least 10 ceasefires have been brokered in the conflict but all have
collapsed.

"The second stage should involve discussing and finding a solution to the
legal issues: that is, a clarification of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh," he
said. The republic declared full independence last year but the move has not 
been recognised by any other country.

Armenia insists that a separate Karabakh delegation should take part in future
peace talks, something Azerbaijan rejects.

Local news agencies in Baku said on Friday that Interior Minister Iskender
Gamidov, a fiery nationalist and hardliner in the territorial dispute with
Armenia, had resigned.

Turan news agency said he quit on Thursday and had cleared his office.
Khabar-Servis agency said he would be replaced by the military commandant of
Baku, police Major-General Abdullah Allakhverdiyev. There was no official
confirmation.

