Dear Nursultan Abishevich,

I have been deeply saddened by the news of the death of servicemen as a result of a crash of An-72 near Shymkent.

On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own I would like to express my sincere condolences to you, families and friends of those killed and all the people of Kazakhstan over this tragedy.

Ilham Aliyev
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Baku, 27 December 2012