Saturday, November 22 2014

The Armenian Special Forces' actions excite admiration but they do not justify the criminal negligence of Armenian leadership, Suren Sargsyan, member of the Council of Field Commanders, Artsakh war veteran, has told ArmInfo's correspondent.     

"I think that the bodies of our guys could and should have been taken half an hour after the tragic incident.  We, the veterans of the Artsakh war, also could do that, but I know that there are well-trained people in the Armed Forces. I regret to say that the bodies of our guys have been recovered so tardily. One should not have turned the tragedy of these people into a subject for political speculations", says Sargsyan. 

He strongly criticizes the actions of the Armenian military and political leadership, which, in his opinion, has not only sent the pilots of the unarmed helicopter to their doom but has also built its personal PR on this tragedy. "I do not understand the behavior of Serzh Sargsyan, who has declared himself as the supreme commander-in-chief. While the bodies of our pilots were lying in the open field and might fall prey to the beasts, Serzh Sargsyan flew to Karabakh by helicopter and uttered some senseless speeches.

These speeches are not worth a dime. I am also extremely indignant at the stupidity of our military leadership", says Sargsyan. 

When considering the incident in the light of the ongoing political processes, Sargsyan says that the tragic incidents along the Line of Contact occur when Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev feel that their regimes are endangered. "I even suspect that Sargsyan and Aliyev have come to some agreement", he says.  

To note, the NKR Defense Army Special Forces have recovered the body of a crewmember and the remains of the two pilots of Mi-24 helicopter that was downed by Azerbaijani forces on 12 November. The necessary wreckage was recovered too. Two Azerbaijani militaries were killed in the course of the special operation. The NKR Defense Army suffered no losses.

To remind, the Azerbaijani armed forces downed an Armenian Mi-24 while it was conducting a training flight near the Line on Contact on 12 November.  Three officers of the NKR Armed Forces, Sergey Sahakyan, Sargis Nazaryan and Azat Sahakyan, were on board. The Azeri officer that shot the helicopter down has been awarded a medal.