November 26, 2014 - 14:52 AMT
MFA statement condemning Azeri downing of copter circulated in UN

The Foreign Ministry statement condemning the downing of Armenian helicopter by Azeri armed forces was put into circulation as an official document of the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

The statement runs as follows:

“We strongly condemn the shooting down by the Azerbaijani armed forces of MI-24 helicopter of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army during a training flight.

Before and after every high-level meeting on the resolution of the issue, Baku is resorting to new provocations to undermine the negotiation process, the efforts of Armenia and the international community aimed at exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict.

The Azerbaijani side is grossly violating the commitments on the peaceful resolution of the conflict reached during the recent summits.

Such a criminal provocation demonstrates that Baku is not only ignoring the appeals of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, the international community on non-use of force, consolidation of ceasefire, implementation of confidence-building measures, but is acting contrary to them bearing full responsibility for the escalation of the situation.”

Mi-24 helicopter belonging to the Nagorno Karabakh army was shot during a training flight as result of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani armed forces on Nov 12, at about 1pm local time. The attack took place not far from the line of contact.

The NKR State Commission on prisoners of war, hostages and the missing persons appealed to the International Committee of Red Cross mission in the NKR with regards to the fate of the crewmembers, one of whom could possibly survive the crash. However, Azerbaijan continued to keep the site under fire.

As a result of a special operation on Nov 21 night, NKR armed forces retrieved the body of one crew member, the remains of two pilots and some helicopter wreckage.