YEREVAN. – For the moment, the efforts by the Armenian side are aimed at a diplomatic settlement of the crisis on bringing out the bodies of the three pilots of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) helicopter which the Azerbaijan Armed Forces had shot down.
The Minister of Defense of Armenia, Seyran Ohanyan, told the aforesaid to reporters on Thursday. He added, however, that if this option does not work, other options are always valid.
“We believe our neighbors [, Azerbaijan,] will realize that, according to the rules of international humanitarian law, they ultimately must allow a study of at least the helicopter crash site, or, if there is even a site of combat operations, a study of this site after the operations, and a study and transport of the remains that are left there,” the minister specifically noted.
And responding to the journalists’ remarks that Azerbaijan is proposing an exchange of the pilots’ bodies with the Azerbaijani saboteurs who are standing trial in the NKR, Ohanyan stated, in particular: “I believe this question should be addressed to the NKR leadership. [But] I believe it is apparent to us all that these saboteurs have committed crimes for which they must answer.”
The Azerbaijani armed forces violated the ceasefire and shot down an NKR Air Force helicopter on November 12. The chopper was downed during a training flight, and it crashed on the neutral zone of the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact. As a result, three pilots are believed to have been killed: the commander of the helicopter, Major Sergey Sahakyan, as well as Senior Lieutenant Sargis Nazaryan and Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan. There were no weapons in the chopper. The adversary, on the other hand, continues to fire intensive shots toward the crash site, thus, not allowing access to the area.