Armenia and Azerbaijan: who is blamed for downing helicopter in Karabakh? 11 topics и One message

Apart from certain economic problems in Azerbaijan, this autumn saw an aggravation in the Karabakh conflict zone. On November 12, Azerbaijani militaries shot down a military helicopter. Under the version of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan, a helicopter of the Armed Forces of Armenia was downed by response fire after it attacked Azerbaijani positions. Under the version of the MoD of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani party had violated the ceasefire regime and shot down the helicopter of the Air Force of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), which was on its training flight. The readers' opinions on the reasons and guilt of the parties diverged.The user Vladivostok2000 treats the episode with the helicopter as an aggravation of the conflict by the Azerbaijan party in response to the demonstration of force by Armenia: "As far as I understand, in this case, on the part of the NKR it was a demonstration of force, without any direct intention to provoke military actions.Azerbaijan decided to aggravate the situation at the armed forces contact line. I strongly doubt that your government had really planned to resume the warfare as a result thereof. Now, both parties will keep silent, expecting local shootouts. The only thing that I don't understand: why have you decided that this event should surely entail a wide-scale war with involvement of the Russian Army? The contact line is in place; the armies are in their places. Maybe for me, because of Ukrainian events, such episodes are already not associated with anything supernatural. Thus, here, already during ceasefire, we had losses on both parties."The user Grant believes that losses of militaries can be avoided, should politicians and militaries on both sides of the conflict be more responsible: "In my opinion, in the tragedy, a part of responsibility is also on the Armenian command. The feelings of the defeated party should be understood and spared; and its reaction and possible actions should be forecasted and simulated. Should out exercises take place farther from the border, they'd pass normally; and victims and tension could have been avoided. And here, we have a frank hint on our party, and demonstration of force – 'we're ready' – in response. Given the everyday rising tension in the world, both regional politicians and militariesshould be especially correct and responsible. If something is doomed to blow up, let it be not in our common house."The user borcali believes that Azeri militaries were right by downing the helicopter, as it violated the air space of Azerbaijan: "Ilkham, you're not sincere. Whose helicopter was it: of Armenia or NKR? Comment to your answer: 1) There is no air space of the Nagorno-Karabakh republic (NKR), but there is the Azerbaijani air space, recognized by the whole world; 2) Why didn't earlier exercises come so close? It follows that Armenia wanted this incident; 3) Read again the statement of your 'clever guys'; and you'll understand that if Armenia starts moving, Azerbaijan can easily go to the international court; maybe they'll do it in future, because the helicopter belongs to Armenian Armed Forces, and the crew was made up of citizens of Armenia. And it indicates a violation of the Azerbaijani air space, which is globally recognized. While you write about some 'air space of Nagorno-Karabakh', not recognized even by Armenia, which is afraid to recognize it."Most of the votes went to the comment of the user Ilkham, who believes that Azerbaijanis acted against the ethics of war, since they were warned about the military exercises conducted by the Armenian party:"borcali, I've answered. OK, let's do it point by point: 1. Armenians are told that the helicopter was flying in the air space of Nagorno-Karabakh; in the Armenians' opinion, the craft did not violate the air space of Azerbaijan; 2. No, I don't think so, Armenians want no war; 3. Armenians do not ask Sargsyan and Oganyan, since they are sure that the craft was downed in the air space of Nagorno-Karabakh. My personal opinion is that there is some ethics of war; and Azeris acted against the ethics; moreover, they had been warned about the military exercises."By the outcomes of the autumn months, out of the weekly comments, recognized to be the best by the readers, the best comment of the fall of 2014 was chosen out of those posted on the pages of the "Caucasian Knot". The contest outcomes were published on October 15. We hereby ask all the winners and prize holders to report their contact data, for us to be able to contact you and agree about the delivery or transfer of your awards. It can be done by means of the feedback form.