YEREVAN, STEPANAKERT–Azerbaijan’s forces shot down a military helicopter belonging to the Nagorno-Karabakh Armed Forces on Wednesday at 1:45 p.m. local time when the Mi-24 was on a training mission. Artsakh Defense Ministry reported that the helicopter was not armed.
“Today, at 13:45 [1:45 p.m.], an Mi-24 helicopter was shot down in the eastern airspace [of NKR], near the Karabagh-Azerbaijani border, by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces—a ceasefire violation. The area where the helicopter was shot is very close to the Line of Contact. The enemy continues to fire intensively, with weapons of various caliber, at the area where the incident took place,” the Artsakh Defense Ministry said in a statement.
According to a source in Artsakh, three members of the Artsakh Air Force were killed in the attack.
The training flight was part of joint Armenia-Artsakh military drills in the area.
The incident took place at the eastern section of the Nagorno-Karabakh-Azerbaijan border, the Artsakh Defense Ministry reported.
The Azerbaijani forces continued the shelling into the afternoon.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western US Central Committee has condemned this latest attack by Azerbaijan and is urging the international community to take appropriate measures to condemn Azerbaijan and its continued military aggression.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry spokesperson Artstrun Hovhannisyan on Wednesday called the helicopter downing “an unprecedented provocation, which has resulted in the escalation of the situation.”
“Azerbaijani assertions that the helicopter attacked its positions are senseless,” added Hovhannisyan. “The investigation of the debris of the helicopter will prove it was not armed.”
“The Azerbaijani side continued to aggravate the situation even after the helicopter had been shot down. Moreover, the shelling from the Azerbaijani side was making it impossible to approach the pilots,” Hovhannisyan said.
“The consequences of this unprecedented escalation will be very painful for the Azerbaijani side and will remain on the conscience of the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan,” he said.
The pilot of the helicopter was Major Sergey Sahakyan, the Spokesman said, adding that further information about the fate of the crew would be provided.
Artsakh’s Presidential Spokesman Davit Babayan told Armenpress on Wednesday that the incident has caused no panic in Karabakh. Babayan said the people of Artsakh would not lose strength or determination in light of this incident.
“The Artsakh people mourn the death of the three victims but this tragic incident does not affect our strength and courage; the people are ready to continue the fight against the adversary for the sake of their dignity and the independence of their country,” Babayan said.
Babayan added that military exercises continued in Artsakh despite the Azeri attack.
“The helicopter was not intended for military action and had no weapons on it,” Davit Babayan concluded. “It was implementing training exercises. The helicopter was not a threat to the enemy. The Azerbaijani side hit the helicopter from the back and showed once again the real face and the degree of insanity of Azerbaijan. They can only hit us from the back; and an unarmed helicopter at that.”
Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the attack on Wednesday.
“Before and after every high-level meeting on the resolution of the issue, Baku is resorting to new provocations to undermine the negotiation process,” a statement from the Foreign Ministry said.
“Such a criminal provocation demonstrates that Baku is not only ignoring the appeals of the OSCE Minsk Group and the international community for the non-use of force, consolidation of the ceasefire, and implementation of confidence-building measures, but is acting contrary to them, bearing full responsibility for the escalation of the situation,” the statement said.
This is an act of aggression Azerbaijan is responsible and must be punished for it
I don’t know what NKR/Armenia is waiting for ? How much more obvious can it be that they want all Armenians dead and out of NKR/Armenia ? They kill innocent villagers, make a twisted sick killer of a sleeping armenian a national hero, and we’re negotiating with savages like this ? Why ?
Attack all their pipelines, shoot down their civilian aircraft as they have threatened ours. Turkey and Azerbaijan will never give up their dreams of another armenian genocide.
Turkey/Azerbaijan will attack armenia proper and NKR come April 2015.
Israel, eu, USA many Arab/Islamic countries will side with Azeris. Russia and Iran are the only countries that will help Armenia.
God bless Russia, Iran and Armenia/NKR.
Nubar Says::
Time is not with us. The more Armenians wait the chances are becoming slimmer for Armenians. We cannot afford to “condemn an unprecedented act and or provocation” ???? and ask for “the International Community to “CONDEMN” to aggressor??? we should give the enemy the same bitter “Medicine” with double/triple dozes.. Artsakh /Armenia should give a very subtle Ultimatum and with the first violation ( in fact we should “create”‘ a violation) should take advantage and give hell. We cannot afford to wait the more we wait the weaker we’re becoming and Azerbaijan is growing stronger. At one time our chances were 70 to 30 to our favor now it’s only 60 to 40 and time is ticking. Before the ticking gets louder let’s do some KICKING………
for crying out loud. wake up and smell the roses. the russians are “helping” yes, they are arming the azeries to the tune of 4 billion Dollars a year. the aircraft was shot down probably using russian weapons and know-how. so you can keep your russian friends. with friends like that who the hell needs enemies:
With friends like Russia who needs enemies. It is highly likely that Kremlin is behind this Azeri aggression. The Russian “friends” can’t wait for hostilities to commence so that they would again put the screws on the winning Armenians for concessions and, ultimately, install Russian “peace keepers” on a border that suits Russia’s interests.
I wish some extremely naive Armenians would just wake up and stop praising a “friend”, Russia, who acts more like an enemy, on a daily basis.
I agree. Russia’s long term plan is to keep Azeri and Turkmen gas from reaching Europe. Controlling Armenia, which is right in the way, is the easy answer. A little war or two is OK, keeps things uncertain.
Armenia? who cares.
This may be the beginning of large scale war. This takes Azeri stupidity to another level. Azerbaijan must pay a heavy price, and action must be taken immediately to target their strategic resources and weaken their economy. As long as the money is allowed to flow into Azerbaijan, this behavior will continue. I agree about the pipelines. This gives NKR and Armenia the opportunity to take whatever action is necessary be it their pipelines or any other strategic resources.
ARMENIA SHOULD RESPOND 100 TIMES IN KIND TO THIS PROVOCATION , WHAT ARE THEY WAITING FOR!!!!!!
Armenia cannot and will not reply in kind yet. They are on the verge of entering the Eurasian Economic Union and have their hands tied since they can’t be at war before entering the union. The Azeris know this which is why they are feeling brave right now. After Jan 2015, the response to this will indeed be harsh and the Azeris will eat more lead than they can swallow. I don’t doubt there will be a limited response by the Armenian side but restraint is more important right now.
What a romantic person Mr. Arzroun Hovhannisyan is. Turks shoot down our military helicopter, kill 3 of our guys, thus telling us that THEY are the ones who are conducting the REAL military exercises… and talking about retaliatory action Mr Hovhanissyan talks about how deep the sorrow will be on the CONSCINCE of the Turks,,, It’s really poetic.
**** If the barbaric Azari’s think they can get a way with this one.?
They should lose sleep over the great Armenian Dashnag revenge for our brave Armenian serviceman
who are defending our ancient homeland. ” LONG LIVE FREE/STRONG ARMENIA/ARTSAKH “
The azeris think and act like North Koreans. Never forget that.
ARMENIAN SOLDER PAYING WITH THERE LIFE BECAUSE <ANY WESTERN GOVERNMENTS ARE HIDING BEHIND SO CALLED NGO WHILE VOICING THERE CRITICS ABOUT HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATION BY THE FASCIST REGIME IN BAKU AND CRIMINAL AZERBAIJANI REGIME SEES "ARMENIANS " BEHIND ALL THIS Critics voiced by so called western NGOS
The latest cynical comments made by the chief of the criminal and Nazi like Foreign Relations Department of the Azerbaijani President`s Administration Novruz Mammadov says a lot. This fascist is see "Armenian lobby " behind western critics to the criminal actions of the regime in Baku!
There should be not be any doubt that this provocation was order by the Azerbaijani President himself and the message is clear: if international community and above all the West continue to criminal and fascist Azerbaijani regime Armenians will pay for it!
THERE ARMENIAN SOLDER LOST THERE LIFE BECAUSE THE CRIMINAL REGIME IN BAKU WANTED TO SEND A SIGNAL TO THE WEST TO STOP VOICE CRITICS AND START TO "LOVE THEM"
Dr. Babajanian // November 12, 2014 at 5:06 pm // Reply
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Ամոթ է Ամոթ
Այս մեր ապականիչ Ղեկավարները ոչ ժամանակ են վատնում մեր անցյայը վերանայելու եւ ոչ էլ իրավասու են Անդրանիկի, Սերոբ Աղբյուրի,Գեւորգ Չաուշի, Արաբոյի, Դրոյի, Նժդեհի, նելսոն Ստեփանեանի եւ մյուս հերոսների ժարանգորդը լինել :
Non of us realy understand the long trail of two Azerbaijani criminals in Stepanakert.. execution of these two Azerbaijani saboteurs who did kill an Armenian youth doesn’t need a long trail!
I do not think Armenians are going to do anything. As for condeming Azeri actions by the world….Bah..humbug…nothing wll come out of it. We have to find a way to teach Azeris a lesson but what?????
Down an Azeri helicopter
Withdraw from negotiations
Present this violation to the UN Security Council
Vahé,
You are right, but you rushed in asking GOD to bless Russia.
After Obama’s denial on Armenian Genocide Recognition, I have a policy for myself, “To eat the food first, and then thank GOD”, so let’s get smart and wait to see how Putin reacts to this violation, same as if some does the same to Russia; or NOT.
Do you think that the US and Europe would wake up to the realities of Azeri aggression if Artsakh and Armenia were to, say, lob a few shells or missiles “near” the western-bound, US and European-owned BTC and BTE oil and gas pipelines that lie just north of Artsakh in Azerbaijan? We wonder.
The Turk will always remain a Turk. Whose side is the United States, Russia, Israel, England, the civilized world and etc?
Why siding with these animal Turks?
Now is the time to retaliate. We have to punish them for that. We cannot let the life of 3 soldiers and the loss of a military helicopter stay unpunished. Eye for an eye must be applied for this. We should destroy more of their military hardwares.
We should ask Putin what is he going to do, the time of bull shitting is arriving to it’s end,
**** It is unbelievable.., I was trying to see if this news of blunt aggression by the barbaric Azeri’s was being reported in the media, did not hear any, not CNN, not Fox, not BBC America, and not even RT ( the Russian TV. ) this is so so sad.., my hart was bleeding for our brave solders who lost there life….
Armenians wake up..!!!! no one is going to help us but us..,lets be more active and aggressive in the world seen, lets make a lot of protest any way we can to lobby our just cause.
” Long Live free & strong Armenia & Artskah “
Baku has been trying hard to draw Armenia into a serious confrontation on the border since last summer. Bakus’ purpose is to cause a situation in the region which would derail Yerevan’s upcoming membership in the Eurasian Union. So, this provocation by Baku has geopolitical undertones. Yes, Armenia has to respond in some manner, but the response has to be measured/asymmetrical. We can’t start a war simply because that is what Turks want. Going forward, we need to better protect our forces and hit back at a time of our choosing. Once Armenia becomes a full member in the Eurasian Union these provocations will gradually come to a halt.