Bodies of pilots recovered, Karabakh ministry of defense distributes video with details of operation
24.11.2014,
11:57
The ministry of defense of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) has distributed a video footage with details of the special operation to recover bodies of the crew members of the helicopter the Azerbaijani force shot down on November 12.
YEREVAN, November 24. /ARKA/. The ministry of defense of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) has distributed a video footage with details of the special operation to recover bodies of the crew members of the helicopter the Azerbaijani force shot down on November 12.
The special operation was conducted by NKR’s military on Saturday November 22. Two Azeri troops were killed during the operation.
The footage shows details from the helicopter crash site and a short interview with NKR’s minister of defense Movses Hakobyan.
Calls on the International Red Cross and the OSCE Minsk Group to allow to investigate the crash site and to recover bodies of the killed pilots produced no result, Hakobyan said. On the contrary, Azeri troops kept the crash site under intense firing and tried even to take away the dead bodies from the site that is near Azeri positions, he said.
“Having in mind all this, we had to conduct a special operation”, the Karabakh minister of defense said.
The Karabakh conflict started in 1988 when prevailingly Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh declared withdrawal from Azerbaijan. In a referendum held on December 10, 1991, 99.89% of Nagorno-Karabakh population voted for independence from Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan responded by large-scale military operations that led to loss of control not only over Nagorno-Karabakh itself, but also over seven adjoining areas. About 25-30 thousand people were killed and about a million had to leave their homes during the military operations.
A trilateral cease-fire agreement was signed on May 12, 2004. The ongoing Karabakh peace process started in 1992 under auspices of OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the USA, Russia and France. –0—
The special operation was conducted by NKR’s military on Saturday November 22. Two Azeri troops were killed during the operation.
The footage shows details from the helicopter crash site and a short interview with NKR’s minister of defense Movses Hakobyan.
Calls on the International Red Cross and the OSCE Minsk Group to allow to investigate the crash site and to recover bodies of the killed pilots produced no result, Hakobyan said. On the contrary, Azeri troops kept the crash site under intense firing and tried even to take away the dead bodies from the site that is near Azeri positions, he said.
“Having in mind all this, we had to conduct a special operation”, the Karabakh minister of defense said.
The Karabakh conflict started in 1988 when prevailingly Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh declared withdrawal from Azerbaijan. In a referendum held on December 10, 1991, 99.89% of Nagorno-Karabakh population voted for independence from Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan responded by large-scale military operations that led to loss of control not only over Nagorno-Karabakh itself, but also over seven adjoining areas. About 25-30 thousand people were killed and about a million had to leave their homes during the military operations.
A trilateral cease-fire agreement was signed on May 12, 2004. The ongoing Karabakh peace process started in 1992 under auspices of OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the USA, Russia and France. –0—
