AFP Azerbaijani forces killed an Armenian military helicopter Wednesday, one of the most serious incidents since the end of the 1994 conflict between Azerbaijan to Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
“On November 12, a combat helicopter Mi-24 tried to attack the positions of the Azerbaijani army near the Agdam region (in the Nagorno-Karabakh). The helicopter was shot down by the Azerbaijani army, “said the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. According to Baku, the remains of the helicopter fell on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist region mostly populated by Armenians in the heart of a simmering conflict that poisons relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Fueling fears that this incident turns this frozen conflict into open war, Yerevan has warned that Baku would have “serious consequences.” “This is an unprecedented escalation and consequences for Azerbaijan will be serious,” said AFP spokesman of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Artsroun Hovanissian.
“Azerbaijan ensures that the helicopter attacked Armenian positions. It is not. Analysis of the debris will show that the unit carried no weapon, “said he added. The Ministry of Defence (separatist) Nagorno-Karabakh has confirmed that the helicopter belonging to the forces of the territory had been killed by the Azerbaijani army while he “was on a training flight as part of military exercises “.
Karabakh forces since Thursday are joint exercises with Armenia. Azerbaijanis “continue to draw heavily in the direction of the crash site with various small arms,” said the ministry. Armenian media for their part, the three crew members were killed. The group of mediators for peace talks over Nagorno-Karabkh under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group said, expressed “very serious concern” at about “the serious incident, the first of its kind since the cease-fire.”
“The events of this day remind us of the Nagorno-Karabakh is volatile and the urgent need to intensify efforts to find a lasting solution,” said in a statement, the Minsk Group co-chaired by France Russia and the United States. The clashes have increased in recent months in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, both sides accusing each other there trigger attacks that have killed dozens of people since August.
Attached to Azerbaijan during the Soviet era, Nagorno-Karabakh was the issue of a war that has 30,000 people and forced hundreds of thousands of people to the exodus between 1988 and 1994. A ceasefire -Fire was signed in 1994, Baku and Yerevan are unable to agree on the status of the region, which remains a source of tension in the South Caucasus, a strategic area between Iran, Russia and Turkey.
Despite years of attempts at international mediation, the two countries have not signed the final treaty about the Nagorno-Karabakh peace, the international community still considers the territory belonging to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, rich country of its oil exports and whose military spending exceeds the total state budget of Armenia, has threatened to take by force the disputed territory if negotiations did not lead to concrete results.
Armenia, which is its army from Russia, but ensures it is able to repel any attack.
France organized a summit in October together with the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, but did not result in concrete progress.
Furthermore:
According to the Reuter agency the Department of Defense of Azerbaijan honored the officer who shot the helicopter by awarding him a “third degree medal” for his vigilance against the enemy and his heroism in combat missions.
Late yesterday afternoon, the Karabakh Defense Army has identified the three dead drivers. This is the Major Sergey Sahakian, the chief lieutenant and lieutenant Nazarian Sargis Sahakyan Azat.
Claire © armenews.com