OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Issue Statement on Downing of Helicopter
The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs (Ambassadors Igor Popov of Russia, James Warlick of the US, and Pierre Andrieu of France) issued yet another press release on November 19 regarding the shooting down of a Karabakh Defense Army helicopter by Azerbaijan. Three Armenian pilots were killed in that attack and their bodies remain at the crash site.
In the statement, the Co-Chairs state: “[We] remain deeply concerned that there has been no humanitarian access to the crash site of the military helicopter downed by Azerbaijani forces on November 12. The wreckage of the helicopter lies in a heavily mined area of neutral territory on the Line of Contact.”
The Co-Chairs call on the sides to cease firing in the vicinity of the crash site and facilitate the de-mining of the area surrounding the site. According to Armenian defense ministry, incessant firing from the Azerbaijani side is preventing the recovery of the bodies.
The statement goes on to say: “In the spirit of the Astrakhan statement of October 2010 between the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia, the Co-Chairs urge Azerbaijan to permit the recovery of the bodies of the victims, and Armenia to cooperate fully with all efforts to resolve this humanitarian situation.”
The Co-chairs state that the sides should take advantage of the presence of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairmperson-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and his team in the region to move the process forward. However, when Ambassador Kasprzyk wanted to visit the crash site on November 18, Baku said that it could not guarantee his security.
On November 12, a helicopter of the Karabakh Defense Army was shot down by Azerbaijani armed forces while it was performing a military drill near the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact. The three pilots on board were killed.
