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Chairman of the France-Karabakh Friendship Circle, French MP Francois Rochebloine issued a statement concerning the helicopter of NKR Air Forces downed by the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan.

"France-Karabakh Friendship Circle is aimed at establishing peace and dialogue between the peoples of the South Caucasus. Accordingly, we condemn this new outbreak of violence. We note that this time, as always, it is the doing of the Azerbaijani regime," said the Chairman of the France-Karabakh Friendship Circle, French MP Francois Rochebloine.

As Rochebloine notes, France is a country, as well as an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, which took responsibility to assist the parties with a view to find a political solution in the Karabakh conflict settlement.

"On October 27, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, together with his Armenian counterpart at the meeting with the French President Francois Hollande pledged to take steps to reduce tensions. This provocation negates obligations undertaken by Azerbaijan. We hoped that Baku will start to act more rationally and constructively after the Armenian-Azerbaijani meeting held on 27 October in Paris. Breaking the promise given just a few days ago Azerbaijani regime shows that it is not a reliable partner in the region," Francois Rochebloine summed up.

As NKR Defense Ministry press service reported earlier, on November 12, at around 1:45 pm, Nagorno Karabakh Air Forces’ Mi-24 helicopter was shot by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces during military training flight in the airspace in the eastern section of Karabakh – Azerbaijan Line of Contact. The land, on which the incident occurred, is in close proximity to the line of contact. Opponent after the incident continued intense bombardment scene from weapons of different caliber. The place where the helicopter was shot is close to the Line of Contact. The enemy continued to fire shots from weapons of different calibers after the incident.

Meanwhile, the press secretary of Armenian Defense Minister Artsrun Hovhannisyan wrote on his Facebook page that Azerbaijani Armed Forces have carried out an unprecedented provocation on the border with the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh; this has also led to escalation of the situation. In the same time the fabrications of the Azerbaijani side, as if the Armenian helicopters had attacked their positions and they allegedly had merely responded to this step, are senseless. "The study of the wreckage of the helicopter will confirm that he was not armed. The escalation of the Azerbaijani side has continued even after the helicopter fall down. Moreover, the Azerbaijani side continued shelling, not allowing even to get closer to the pilots. The consequences of this unprecedented escalation will be very harmful for the Azerbaijani side and will remain as a stain on the conscience of the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan. Captain of the helicopter was Major Sergei Sahakyan. Information about the fate of the crew will be given later," Artsrun Hovhannisyan stated.