President of the France-Nagorny Karabakh friendship group of the National Assembly, Mr. Francois Rochebloine, has commented on the downing of an Armenian helicopter by Azerbaiujan's armed forces.
That provocation runs contrary to Azerbaijan's commitments, Rochebloine said in a statement. According to the French official, they hoped Baku should take a more rational and constructive stand after the October 27 meetings of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in Paris. Breaching the promise it gave to France several days ago, Baku proved that it cannot be a reliable partner in the region, www.france- karabagh.fr reports Rochebloine as saying.
To recall, a helicopter MI-24 of the NKR Armed Forces with three officers on board was shot down Wednesday at about 1:45 PM local time while making a training flight in the air space of the eastern part of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Karabakh and Azerbaijan. The Azeri serviceman that shot down the helicopter has been awarded a medal. The area is still being bombarded by the Azerbaijani forces.
"The shooting down of an Armenian helicopter in Nagorno-Karabakh bears risk of escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier said.
While speaking at a meeting of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Zannier said that the shooting down of a military helicopter in Nagrono-Karabakh might escalate the conflict.
"Azerbaijan's unprecedented provocation on its border with Nagorno-Karabakh has escalated the situation," Spokesman of Armenia's Defense Ministry Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in a Facebook post. "The Azeris' allegations that the Armenian helicopters attacked their positions and they just counteracted are senseless as the examination of the debris will show that the helicopters were not armed. The Azeris were still firing when the helicopter fell so we were not able to approach the pilots," Hovhannisyan said. He noted that the consequences of this incident will be very painful for Azerbaijan and will weigh upon the conscience of its military- political leadership.