President of the National Assembly of Armenia Ruben Rubinyan has described the incident involving an Azerbaijani soldier in Shaki as a crime, while stressing the fact that the Azerbaijani side informed the Armenian side about the soldier’s disappearance. In his assessment, such communication would not have taken place in the absence of peace.
Rubinyan said this at the 6 October sitting of the National Assembly, answering a question from Marianna Ghahramanyan, a deputy of the “Strong Armenia” faction.
The deputy asked whether the National Assembly president, as a representative of a political force “nurturing the peace process,” is ready to express a clear political position on what happened in Shaki.
Ghahramanyan stressed that this is not only about illegally crossing the border. The armed Azerbaijani soldier entered the home of an Armenian citizen, shot at the woman, and the children were also affected. The deputy assessed what happened as an act undermining the peace process.
In response, Rubinyan noted that what happened is a crime.
“Of course, what happened is a crime. If a person enters someone’s home and shoots, it is a crime. Have you noticed that charges have been brought, that he has been arrested?”
The National Assembly president also emphasized that the soldier apparently violated not only the laws of Armenia but also those of Azerbaijan by illegally leaving his place of service.
Responding to the answer, Ghahramanyan clarified that she expects a political, not a criminal-legal, assessment. She repeated the question, stressing the impact of such incidents on the peace process.
“The political assessment is the following. A crime was committed by the Azerbaijani soldier who illegally crossed Armenia’s border. Now, is it bad that a crime was committed. Of course, it is very bad. Does this mean that this can be perceived badly, moreover from the point of view of peace. The answer is yes. Is it good that when the Azerbaijani side saw that its soldier was lost and assumed that he might have intruded into Armenia, it informed the Armenian side. Yes, very good. If there were no peace, that would not have happened,” Rubinyan answered.
He also touched upon similar cases that had occurred previously, emphasizing the difference with the Shaki incident.
“Let me say more. Before this event there were many cases when both a soldier from our side ended up with them, and a soldier from their side ended up with us and, thank God, without any incidents. They informed each other, returned them,” the National Assembly president noted.
