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INCIDENT WITH ARMENIAN HELICOPTER: INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS' DANGEROUS FORMULATIONS
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Nov 14 2014
14 November 2014, 10:36 (GMT+04:00)
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva
Immediately after the incident with a military helicopter of the
Armenian armed forces shot down by the Azerbaijani servicemen in the
airspace of Azerbaijan, the international observers and the media
started assessing the incident.
Some talk about the need to investigate the incident, others simply
report about the helicopter flying over the territory of Azerbaijan's
breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to some media reports,
this incident is a flagrant violation of international law by the
Armenian servicemen. The Armenian side threatens retaliation against
Azerbaijan for this incident and says that it was a training flight.
However it is time to dot "i's" and make out the formulations.
No one denies that the helicopter was in the air space in the zone
of a contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops. Everyone
essentially recognizes that the Azerbaijani armed forces shot down
a military helicopter in their own airspace.
All flights over onshore and offshore areas of a country, including
its territorial waters, can be made only after obviously expressed
consent of a country. Taking into account that the Nagorno-Karabakh
is the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan and the
airspace above it is the airspace of Azerbaijan, it becomes unclear
what exactly must be investigated in this incident.
Under international law, military aircraft (plane or helicopter)
must comply with the laws and regulations of the foreign state on
a reciprocal basis while in the airspace of that state or on its
territory. If military aircraft commits an unlawful act which clearly
has the character of aggression, the state establishes this fact and
has the right to take necessary measures for self-defense.
Regarding the incident with the Armenian helicopter that entered the
airspace over the occupied territories of Azerbaijan that have been
offically closed for many years by Baku, what were Azerbaijani armed
forces supposed to do, after establishing a flagrant violation of
international law? And who would have acted differently? Are there
any cases in the history when the military aircrafts crossed the
airspace of another country with impunity?
One Western official, quoted by the authoritative British newspaper
Financial Times, said that in 2014 there were over 100 declarations
of military alarm when NATO launched its fighters because of the
actions of Russia near the airspace of the Alliance, which is three
times more than during the whole 2013 year. This means that with a
slightest suspicion of violation of the airspace, the Alliance did
not hesitate to launch its war fighters, whose goals were obvious
- protection of the air sovereignty of NATO at any cost. In this
case, the open warning of the Alliance about the inadmissibility of
penetration into the airspace for some reason did not cause a stir
among other international organizations.
Given the above, I would like to call upon all the international
organizations, colleagues - reporters and ordinary citizens to look
at things realistically and recognize the right of Baku to protect
its own airspace and territory by any means.
http://www.azernews.az/analysis/73235.html
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Nov 14 2014
14 November 2014, 10:36 (GMT+04:00)
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva
Immediately after the incident with a military helicopter of the
Armenian armed forces shot down by the Azerbaijani servicemen in the
airspace of Azerbaijan, the international observers and the media
started assessing the incident.
Some talk about the need to investigate the incident, others simply
report about the helicopter flying over the territory of Azerbaijan's
breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to some media reports,
this incident is a flagrant violation of international law by the
Armenian servicemen. The Armenian side threatens retaliation against
Azerbaijan for this incident and says that it was a training flight.
However it is time to dot "i's" and make out the formulations.
No one denies that the helicopter was in the air space in the zone
of a contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops. Everyone
essentially recognizes that the Azerbaijani armed forces shot down
a military helicopter in their own airspace.
All flights over onshore and offshore areas of a country, including
its territorial waters, can be made only after obviously expressed
consent of a country. Taking into account that the Nagorno-Karabakh
is the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan and the
airspace above it is the airspace of Azerbaijan, it becomes unclear
what exactly must be investigated in this incident.
Under international law, military aircraft (plane or helicopter)
must comply with the laws and regulations of the foreign state on
a reciprocal basis while in the airspace of that state or on its
territory. If military aircraft commits an unlawful act which clearly
has the character of aggression, the state establishes this fact and
has the right to take necessary measures for self-defense.
Regarding the incident with the Armenian helicopter that entered the
airspace over the occupied territories of Azerbaijan that have been
offically closed for many years by Baku, what were Azerbaijani armed
forces supposed to do, after establishing a flagrant violation of
international law? And who would have acted differently? Are there
any cases in the history when the military aircrafts crossed the
airspace of another country with impunity?
One Western official, quoted by the authoritative British newspaper
Financial Times, said that in 2014 there were over 100 declarations
of military alarm when NATO launched its fighters because of the
actions of Russia near the airspace of the Alliance, which is three
times more than during the whole 2013 year. This means that with a
slightest suspicion of violation of the airspace, the Alliance did
not hesitate to launch its war fighters, whose goals were obvious
- protection of the air sovereignty of NATO at any cost. In this
case, the open warning of the Alliance about the inadmissibility of
penetration into the airspace for some reason did not cause a stir
among other international organizations.
Given the above, I would like to call upon all the international
organizations, colleagues - reporters and ordinary citizens to look
at things realistically and recognize the right of Baku to protect
its own airspace and territory by any means.
http://www.azernews.az/analysis/73235.html