Tweet
Daily Mail, UK
Nov 22 2014
Bodies of Armenian pilots removed from helicopter crash site
By Reuters
YEREVAN, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The bodies of three pilots have been
removed from a crash site in a special military operation after their
helicopter from a region controlled by ethnic Armenians was shown down
by Azeri forces earlier this month, officials from the region said.
The downing of the helicopter was the first such incident since a
ceasefire was agreed in 1994 following a war over the tiny mountainous
territory in the South Caucasus and has ratcheted up tensions between
Armenia and oil-producing Azerbaijan.
Azeri armed forces had been preventing soldiers from approaching the
crash site and removing the bodies of the pilots, who were on a
training flight, according to defence ministry officials in both the
Nagorno-Karabakh territory and Armenia.
"As a result of a special operation, the remains of the crew were
retrieved, as were specific parts of the helicopter," Karabakh's
defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
It said that two Azeri soldiers were killed during the operation and
that the Armenian side did not suffer any losses.
Azeri officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Azerbaijan earlier confirmed it had shot down a helicopter but said it
was an Armenian aircraft that had intended to attack Azeri soldiers
near the mined and heavily guarded line of contact around
Nagorno-Karabakh.
The incident highlighted the risk that tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh
could trigger a wider conflict in the South Caucasus, through which
oil and gas flow from the Caspian region to Europe.
About 30,000 people were killed in fighting between ethnic Azeris and
Armenians, which erupted in 1991 as the Soviet Union collapsed.
Mainly Muslim Azerbaijan and predominantly Christian Armenia regularly
trade accusations of inciting violence along the Azeri-Armenian border
and around Nagorno-Karabakh.
The region runs its own affairs with heavy military and financial
backing from Armenia.
The OSCE's Minsk Group, co-chaired by France, Russia and the United
States, has failed to find a permanent settlement to the conflict, and
no peace treaty has ever been signed. (Reporting by Hasmik Lazarian;
Writing by Margarita Antidze; editing by Jane Baird)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-2845282/Bodies-Armenian-pilots-removed-helicopter-crash-site.html
Nov 22 2014
Bodies of Armenian pilots removed from helicopter crash site
By Reuters
YEREVAN, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The bodies of three pilots have been
removed from a crash site in a special military operation after their
helicopter from a region controlled by ethnic Armenians was shown down
by Azeri forces earlier this month, officials from the region said.
The downing of the helicopter was the first such incident since a
ceasefire was agreed in 1994 following a war over the tiny mountainous
territory in the South Caucasus and has ratcheted up tensions between
Armenia and oil-producing Azerbaijan.
Azeri armed forces had been preventing soldiers from approaching the
crash site and removing the bodies of the pilots, who were on a
training flight, according to defence ministry officials in both the
Nagorno-Karabakh territory and Armenia.
"As a result of a special operation, the remains of the crew were
retrieved, as were specific parts of the helicopter," Karabakh's
defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
It said that two Azeri soldiers were killed during the operation and
that the Armenian side did not suffer any losses.
Azeri officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Azerbaijan earlier confirmed it had shot down a helicopter but said it
was an Armenian aircraft that had intended to attack Azeri soldiers
near the mined and heavily guarded line of contact around
Nagorno-Karabakh.
The incident highlighted the risk that tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh
could trigger a wider conflict in the South Caucasus, through which
oil and gas flow from the Caspian region to Europe.
About 30,000 people were killed in fighting between ethnic Azeris and
Armenians, which erupted in 1991 as the Soviet Union collapsed.
Mainly Muslim Azerbaijan and predominantly Christian Armenia regularly
trade accusations of inciting violence along the Azeri-Armenian border
and around Nagorno-Karabakh.
The region runs its own affairs with heavy military and financial
backing from Armenia.
The OSCE's Minsk Group, co-chaired by France, Russia and the United
States, has failed to find a permanent settlement to the conflict, and
no peace treaty has ever been signed. (Reporting by Hasmik Lazarian;
Writing by Margarita Antidze; editing by Jane Baird)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-2845282/Bodies-Armenian-pilots-removed-helicopter-crash-site.html