Tweet
HELICOPTER INCIDENT FALLOUT: ARMENIAN SIDE SLAMS AZERI OFFICIAL OVER STATEMENT ABOUT PILOT BODIES
Karabakh | 19.11.14 | 13:14
Photolure
GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
Azerbaijan still does not allow the Armenian side to recover the bodies
of three pilots who are presumed dead in the November 12 helicopter
shooting incident. Meanwhile, Yerevan and Stepanakert consider
the latest statement by an official in Baku that they will let the
Armenian side to take the bodies if they consider it "necessary"
to be inadmissible. Armenian officials and human rights activists
say it is a violation of international humanitarian law.
For already a week Azerbaijani troops keep the downed helicopter's
crash site in the neutral zone of the Karabakh Line of Contact under
constant fire, not allowing the Karabakh military to approach the
place and take care of its dead servicemen.
Head of the working group of Azerbaijan's State Commission on POWs,
Hostages and Missing People Firudin Sadighov stated that "Azerbaijan
will let [the Armenian side] to recover the bodies of the Armenian
helicopter pilots if it considers it necessary."
"The bodies are there, and neither side has been given the opportunity
to take them from there. Armenians are begging [personal representative
of the OSCE chairman-in-office] Andrzej Kasprzyk, but he does not
have any power," said Sadighov, claiming that the Armenian military
helicopter was shot down in Azerbaijani territory and the bodies of
the dead pilots are also there.
Therefore, according to him, only Azerbaijan has the authority to
give permission for the recovery of the bodies.
Meanwhile, spokesman for Armenia's Defense Ministry Artsrun
Hovhannisyan reminded Azerbaijani military leaders that rules of
treatment of the wounded and dead are defined by international
humanitarian law. In particular, he made a reference to the 1949
Geneva Conventions.
According to Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office head Artur
Sakunts, the statement by the Azerbaijani official does not fit any
provisions of international humanitarian law.
"The man just doesn't understand where he works or what he does. The
thing is that after the shooting down of the helicopter people are in a
helpless condition, by all most elementary rules an opportunity should
have been given to provide help to them at the very first moment,
at least a humanitarian corridor should have been provided, it is not
someone's will, but a requirement of the international humanitarian
law," the leading Armenian human rights activist told ArmeniaNow.
Meanwhile, still on Monday the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan issued
a statement, warning the Armenian side against "another attempted
military action" and threatening it with a "powerful and destructive"
blow "that will result in numerous victims and will long remain in
the enemy's memory".
In response to this, David Babayan, a spokesman for Karabakh's
president, talking to RFE/RL's Armenian Service, said that such a
statement is "typical of Nazis and is utterly unconstructive".
"In fact, they openly declare that they will not allow the Armenian
side to approach the site, in other words, they keep it under fire,
and, naturally, create a very strange situation. On the one hand,
we have to know the fate of our soldiers, on the other hand, it may
be fraught with new victims," said Babayan, adding that it is time
the international community made tougher statements against Azerbaijan.
On Tuesday in accordance with agreement with the authorities of
Nagorno-Karabakh, an OSCE mission conducted a scheduled monitoring
along the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Karabakh and
Azerbaijani in the direction of Askeran. Although it had been expected
that Ambassador Kasprzyk and his field assistants would also visit
the downed helicopter's crash site, no such visit took place.
http://armenianow.com/karabakh/58615/armenia_karabakh_helicopter_pilots_bodies
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Karabakh | 19.11.14 | 13:14
Photolure
GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
Azerbaijan still does not allow the Armenian side to recover the bodies
of three pilots who are presumed dead in the November 12 helicopter
shooting incident. Meanwhile, Yerevan and Stepanakert consider
the latest statement by an official in Baku that they will let the
Armenian side to take the bodies if they consider it "necessary"
to be inadmissible. Armenian officials and human rights activists
say it is a violation of international humanitarian law.
For already a week Azerbaijani troops keep the downed helicopter's
crash site in the neutral zone of the Karabakh Line of Contact under
constant fire, not allowing the Karabakh military to approach the
place and take care of its dead servicemen.
Head of the working group of Azerbaijan's State Commission on POWs,
Hostages and Missing People Firudin Sadighov stated that "Azerbaijan
will let [the Armenian side] to recover the bodies of the Armenian
helicopter pilots if it considers it necessary."
"The bodies are there, and neither side has been given the opportunity
to take them from there. Armenians are begging [personal representative
of the OSCE chairman-in-office] Andrzej Kasprzyk, but he does not
have any power," said Sadighov, claiming that the Armenian military
helicopter was shot down in Azerbaijani territory and the bodies of
the dead pilots are also there.
Therefore, according to him, only Azerbaijan has the authority to
give permission for the recovery of the bodies.
Meanwhile, spokesman for Armenia's Defense Ministry Artsrun
Hovhannisyan reminded Azerbaijani military leaders that rules of
treatment of the wounded and dead are defined by international
humanitarian law. In particular, he made a reference to the 1949
Geneva Conventions.
According to Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office head Artur
Sakunts, the statement by the Azerbaijani official does not fit any
provisions of international humanitarian law.
"The man just doesn't understand where he works or what he does. The
thing is that after the shooting down of the helicopter people are in a
helpless condition, by all most elementary rules an opportunity should
have been given to provide help to them at the very first moment,
at least a humanitarian corridor should have been provided, it is not
someone's will, but a requirement of the international humanitarian
law," the leading Armenian human rights activist told ArmeniaNow.
Meanwhile, still on Monday the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan issued
a statement, warning the Armenian side against "another attempted
military action" and threatening it with a "powerful and destructive"
blow "that will result in numerous victims and will long remain in
the enemy's memory".
In response to this, David Babayan, a spokesman for Karabakh's
president, talking to RFE/RL's Armenian Service, said that such a
statement is "typical of Nazis and is utterly unconstructive".
"In fact, they openly declare that they will not allow the Armenian
side to approach the site, in other words, they keep it under fire,
and, naturally, create a very strange situation. On the one hand,
we have to know the fate of our soldiers, on the other hand, it may
be fraught with new victims," said Babayan, adding that it is time
the international community made tougher statements against Azerbaijan.
On Tuesday in accordance with agreement with the authorities of
Nagorno-Karabakh, an OSCE mission conducted a scheduled monitoring
along the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Karabakh and
Azerbaijani in the direction of Askeran. Although it had been expected
that Ambassador Kasprzyk and his field assistants would also visit
the downed helicopter's crash site, no such visit took place.
http://armenianow.com/karabakh/58615/armenia_karabakh_helicopter_pilots_bodies
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress