Armenian experts predict Yerevan’s proportionate response to helicopter incident

The liquidation by Azerbaijani militaries of the Mi-24 helicopter in the flight over Nagorno-Karabakh, will not go unpunished, experts in Armenia believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in the afternoon on November 12, in the area of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a military helicopter was shot down. The death of three members of the crew was reported.

According to Ruben Megrabyan, an employee of the Armenian Centre for Political and International Studies, in this situation, "the Armenian army will not leave the incident with the helicopter unanswered," because "the combat capabilities of the Armenian party allow doing it.”

He did not rule out a possibility of resumption of war in Nagorno-Karabakh. However, according to Megrabyan, at the moment nobody needs the war – neither the Armenian nor Azerbaijani parties, nor any other third force.

"Armenia just has no motives; as for Azerbaijan, they will have problems with the international community; they knew it before, and they understand it now. Aliev’s regime is just using these tricks in the attempt to morally justify repression inside the country," Ruben Megrabyan told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The measures in response to the destruction by Azerbaijani militaries of the Armenian Mi-24 helicopter, which was carrying out a training flight, will be "more than proportionate," Seiran Oganyan, the Armenian Defence Minister, said on November 14.

The Minister made this statement in Nagorno-Karabakh during the military exercises "Unity-2014". He emphasized that the exercises "have exclusively peaceful aims" and "are held to share experiences with Nagorno-Karabakh."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.