What Will Happen to the Downed Helicopter Crew?

After an Armenian combat helicopter Mi-24 was knocked down in Agdam on November 12, the Armenian party complains that they cannot pick up the bodies.

According to the Armenians, the Azerbaijani side continuously bombards the crash site for six days.

At the same time, a number of Armenian military experts continue to argue that the helicopter was not shot down over the Azerbaijani positions and was within 1.5 to two kilometers. If so, the helicopter is on the territory controlled by Armenians, why cannot they pick up the dead?

According to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, the wreckage of the helicopter is only 100 meters from the Azerbaijani positions and 300 meters from the Armenian ones.

Commenting on the situation for Turan, military sources, who requested anonymity, say that to pick up the bodies and wreckage of the helicopter, a political solution is needed. Agreement with Baku is required.

Besides the humanitarian side, there is a purely military aspect. Armenians kept saying that the helicopter had no arms and performed a training flight. However, examination of the wreckage of the helicopter can prove otherwise. An indirect confirmation of this is video footage of the Armenian side’s military exercises in Karabakh. The footage clearly shows how two helicopters MI-24 shoot up to 10 missiles to ground targets. It is possible that the downed helicopter was one of them, experts say.

The Armenian side is trying to resolve the issue through the Red Cross, addressing to the OSCE and other international organizations. However, attempts to put pressure on Azerbaijan in this case are unlikely to help. Thus, the reaction of the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman Andrzej Kasprzyk showed that the OSCE will not make unilateral actions uncoordinated with Baku.

Though it is hard to Armenians, they will have to ask Baku. -02B-