Galust Sahakyan: Downing of Karabakh helicopter is another provocation by Baku
Speaker of Armenian National Assembly Galust Sahakyan has condemned the downing of a Nagorno-Karabakh helicopter by Azerbaijani forces.
“The downing of the helicopter is another provocation by Baku aimed against the fragile peace and security in the region. Following the obviously provocative encroachments in August of this year, the mediation efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group were once again cynically ignored by the Azerbaijani authorities,” Mr Sahakyan stated at the National Assembly.
“This is another step aimed at undermining the peace process, which violates all agreements regarding a peaceful settlement, the strengthening of confidence and the observance of the ceasefire regime. Baku bears all responsibility for the attempts to aggravate and destabilize the situation. Therefore, I once again urge the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries to condemn and exert more concrete influence on Azerbaijan to prevent further attempts to undermine the peace process,” the NA Speaker said.
A MI-24 helicopter of the NKR Air Force was shot down on Wednesday in the airspace in the eastern direction of the Karabakh-Azerbaijani border due to a ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani armed forces. The area where the helicopter was shot down was at a very short distance from the Line of Contact. The enemy opened heavy fire from guns of various calibers at the incident site.