Mirzoyan comments on Azerbaijani shepherd who crossed into Armenia

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has said that incidents involving shepherds crossing the Armenia–Azerbaijan border may occur, adding that both sides are handling such cases constructively.

TodayPress TV reports that Mirzoyan made the remarks on October 21 during a meeting of the Armenian parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Relations.

The minister was commenting on reports that an Azerbaijani shepherd had crossed Armenia’s state border.

“Such cases sometimes happen. An Azerbaijani shepherd may also lose his way and cross the border. However, this can happen on our side as well. Both sides approach such incidents constructively,” Mirzoyan said.

The minister also noted that incidents similar to the Shaki incident could occur, adding that the parties’ responses to such situations had been fairly appropriate.

“Cases similar to the Shaki incident may also occur. Here, too, it should be noted that the approaches have been quite reasonable,” he stressed.

According to Mirzoyan, it is impossible to prevent such situations entirely in real life. In his view, that could only be achieved by building a wall along the entire border.

“I hope we will not start building walls and will instead find more solutions together,” the Armenian foreign minister said.

He acknowledged that such incidents could have negative consequences, but added that suspending all contacts, shutting themselves off and returning to conflict would not be the best course of action for Armenia.

It should be recalled that Armenian media reported earlier today that an Azerbaijani shepherd had been detained after entering Armenian territory. The incident reportedly occurred near the village of Chinari in Armenia’s Tavush Province. Reports also stated that he had already been taken to Yerevan.