What happened is in itself a problem, of course, a problem; moreover, the problem is not that the soldier got lost and crossed over, but that he opened fire, caused harm, and entered people’s homes. I am saying that if all that had not happened, we would have returned the soldier to Azerbaijan the very same day. It is a problem, but I do not think it is an issue that should endanger the peace process. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said this during a briefing, responding to a question about whether the incident could jeopardize the peace process.
Referring to the October 7 National Assembly-Government Q&A, Pashinyan urged not to stay adequate.
“I am horrified by yesterday’s parliamentary discussion, because I say: God forbid one of our soldiers, confused, crosses over and no incident occurs there-then the response to all these discussions, inadequate assessments, and statements is what we would see in that situation. At that time we would be saying: so is this peace?
I hope that such a thing will not happen, that is, that such a thing will not happen to our soldier,” he said.
According to Pashinyan, the Shaki incident is an ordinary crime, and there is no need to turn it into an “apocalypse”: “This is an ordinary criminal offense. It is a cross-border crime, but it is still a crime.”
Let us recall that on September 29, Azerbaijan’s State Security Service informed Armenia’s National Security Service that a serviceman from one of the Azerbaijani military units had left his unit, and it was not ruled out that he may have illegally crossed Armenia’s border.
On October 1, an incident was recorded in the Shaki settlement of Syunik Province in which an Armenian citizen was shot in the leg. According to the NSS, it was established that the crime was committed by an Azerbaijani serviceman, who was detained.
