It was Armenia that shot down civilian aircraft over occupied territories - Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov, commenting on recent statements by the Armenian side on the possible threats in making flights over the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, said on Friday that the position of Azerbaijan on this issue has already been announced earlier.

Polukhov once again reminded that "it was Armenian militarists who had shot down civilian helicopters, carrying civilian population and humanitarian goods in the sky over Karabakh".

"The Azerbaijani side once again informs ICAO, as well as all international organizations about the risk of making civilian flights over the Armenian-occupied territories and the possibility of the acts of provocation in this area. This is a zone of military conflict and is temporarily outside the control of the Azerbaijani authorities", officer of the press-center of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Elman Abdullayev said earlier.

"This is the Armenian armed forces that shot down an Iranian plane with civilians on board and they are still shamefully silent about this. Armenian propaganda machine is deliberately trying to draw the international community's attention away from the heart of the problem - the continued occupation of sovereign territories of Azerbaijan and, unfortunately, there are still some apologies for political scientists, who still prefer to talk about the derivatives of the Armenian aggression rather than the essence of aggression and the realities caused by this fact. Is it hard to ask yourself why Armenian sniper kills nine-year-old innocent Azeri boy, why the sky over the occupied territories is unsafe to fly and Armenian air defense can bring down any aircraft, even if it is a civilian one, why more than one million Azerbaijani refugees and internally-displaced persons can not return to their homes, why hundreds of square kilometers of once-flourishing areas turned into dense forests where towns and villages have disappeared? The answer is simple: it is all a result of Armenian occupation and the world get tired with calling on Armenia to withdraw its troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The withdrawal of the occupying forces simply will not leave the possibility for generating all of these threats and sufferings", said Polukhov.

Polukhov said today Armenia opposes itself to the world community showing contempt for all the foundations of international security architecture - the norms and principles of international law that it committed itself to by becoming a member of organizations such as UN, OSCE. This situation can not last forever, he said.

"What Armenian leadership should show is not even a constructivism; it must be realistic and understand that in the 21 century there is no place for continuing the occupation of the territory of a sovereign state, for justification of ethnic cleansing, for desire for changing the internationally recognized borders. This will be tolerated by neither Azerbaijan, nor the world community", he said.


/Trend/