make preferableYEREVAN. – The Azerbaijani army’s downing of a Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Air Force helicopter is a reaction to the incidents that occurred in August.
Caucasus Institute Director, political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan noted the aforementioned at a press conference on Tuesday.
In his view, Azerbaijan’s aforesaid recent violation of the ceasefire is not accidental.
“There is a rational need in this; the Azerbaijanis need this. They feel they have lost territories, the [Azerbaijani] population is disappointed because of that, and they are being told, ‘Let’s conduct negotiations,’” Iskandaryan stated.
The analyst stressed that the Armenian sides’ response is always quite severe.
“Always, the total number of the dead is not in the Azerbaijani side’s favor,” Iskandaryan noted.
He added, however, that if the Armenian sides’ respond solely in military fashion, this will not achieve results.
“[But,] also, the reaction should not be just diplomatic,” the political scientist stated.
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 nearby 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, the Senior Lieutenant Sargis Nazaryan, and the Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan. Information was disseminated some time thereafter, however, that a member of the helicopter crew may still be alive. The adversary, on the other hand, continues to fire intensive shots toward the crash site, thus, not allowing access to the area.
