“Shooting down an NKR Defense Army Air Force helicopter by Azerbaijan during training flight near the line of contact is an unprecedented violation of the ceasefire fraught with serious escalation of tension in the conflict zone,” the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
“This criminal and adventurous provocation by Azerbaijan has not only become a gross violation of the obligations taken by Azerbaijani side to find a peaceful settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh, but also demonstrated its total disregard towards the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries and the international community as a whole,” the Ministry said.
“The incident indicates, yet again, the need of intensifying efforts to develop and take urgent measures to de-escalate the tension and, first of all, to establish an effective mechanism for investigation of ceasefire violations, which has been repeatedly proposed the Armenian sides and supported by the OSCE Minsk Group,” the statement reads.
“The soonest development and implementation of a mechanism for investigation of incidents will allow identifying the true perpetrator of the ceasefire regime violations, i.e. Azerbaijan, and avoid untargeted calls on the parties to the conflict, which create a false sense of permissiveness and impunity in Azerbaijan,” the NKR Foreign Ministry said.
