FM warns against portraying reported border crossing by Azerbaijani shepherd as security threat

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Ararat Mirzoyan has addressed unconfirmed reports about an Azerbaijani shepherd who reportedly crossed Armenia’s border, emphasizing that such cases should not be exaggerated or misrepresented as a threat to national security, even if confirmed.

Mirzoyan spoke on the matter at a meeting of the parliament’s Committee on Foreign Relations, responding to an MP’s concerns about the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process and security.

He criticized the approach of presenting such incidents as a threat to the country’s security.

“Woe to the political force that thinks the threat to the country’s security is a shepherd who has gotten lost. Such things happen: a shepherd can get lost on their side, and one can get lost on our side. And such incidents happen both before and after the establishment of peace,” Mirzoyan said.

The minister noted that people are returned in such situations. At the same time, he distinguished cases of people simply getting lost from situations in which a person who crosses the border commits a crime.

Mirzoyan said it is difficult to avoid such incidents entirely and that cooperative solutions must be pursued.

The minister stressed that there are both positive developments and problems in the peace process, but the existence of the latter should not become grounds for abandoning positive steps.

“You constantly try to say, ‘But this bad thing exists.’ Yes, it does, I know. So what should we do now? Say, ‘That’s it, let’s shut it all down and return to the conflict again’? This is not a good path for Armenia,” the minister said.

On October 21, media outlets reported that an Azerbaijani shepherd had crossed Armenia’s border. The National Security Service and the Ministry of Defense have not yet commented on the report.