Friendship Group of European Parliament with NKR: Azerbaijan’s commitment of non-use of force has no value
Friendship Group Chairman of the Seim of the Lithuanian Republic and the Republic of Artsakh (NKR) Dalia Kuodite issued a statement regarding the NKR Air Force helicopter downed by the Azerbaijani side on November 12. She noted in the article that this provocation once again denies the unavailing efforts of Azerbaijan to present Armenia as an aggressor in different international instances.
"On the contrary, the incident once again proves that Azerbaijan is not interested in a peaceful settlement of the conflict. The talks recently held in Paris, attended by the leaders of the two countries, brought positive results. Nevertheless, Azerbaijan, once again demonstrating the real nature of its authoritarian state, brought all expectations to naught," reads the statement.
It is also noted that on November 12, 2014, helicopter MI-24 belonging to NKR Air Forces was shot down by the Azerbaijani armed forces. "The area where the helicopter was shot down is under fire. This makes impossible to get closer to the helicopter. Study of the wreckage of the helicopter would prove that there were no arms in the helicopter as the latter was carrying out a training flight," stated Artsrun Hovhannisyan, the spokesman of the Armenian Defense Minister.
According to the statement, this incident sparked anger not only in Europe but throughout the world. According to Frank Engel, the chairman of the European Parliament Friendship Group with Nagorno Karabakh, this incident was the most serious
ceasefire violation during the last 20 years. He noted that not only it was a pointless step, but it also proved that the commitment of non-use of force, which undertook Azerbaijan, has no value.
"We believe that the faith in your country will remain steadfast, and this tragedy will even more strengthen your resoluteness in preservation and development of the state with the prevalence of democracy and human rights," reads the statement.
As NKR Defense Ministry press service reported earlier, on November 12, at around 13:45 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.