Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Didier Burkhalter expressed his deep concern about downing of a helicopter on November 12 near the line of contact between the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

Burkhalter appealed to the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia to do their utmost to prevent such incidents and to honor the ceasefire regime.

He called it particularly regrettable that several spikes of violence had resulted in an unprecedented number of casualties this year. “Strict adherence to the ceasefire regime and full respect of previously made commitments are indispensable to reach the level of confidence necessary to agree on a conflict settlement,” he said.

Referring to the statement by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Burkhalter expressed his appreciation for the intensification of high-level contacts since the Sochi meeting and encouraged the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to continue their dialogue.

Armenia’s military aircraft, performing combat maneuvers over the Azerbaijani positions attempted to open fire at the positions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. On November 12 at about 13:45 pm, Mi-24 helicopter of the Armenian Armed Forces attacked the positions after coming into combat course at 1700 meters north-east from Kangarli village of Aghdam region.

The enemy helicopter was shot down with return fire. The remains of the downed helicopter fell into the opposite territory 500 meters from the front line, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry reported.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.

---
Follow Gulgiz Dadashova on Twitter: @GulgizD