Pashinyan Says Mother Should Have Waited for Police Before Rushing to Children Facing Armed Azerbaijani Soldier

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the mother who rushed home after her children discovered an armed Azerbaijani serviceman inside their house should have waited for police, arguing that the violent confrontation that left her seriously wounded could likely have been avoided.

“I understand that a mother’s instinct is strong, but when the police are called, you have to wait for the police to act,” Pashinyan told parliament.

His remarks came less than a week after Azerbaijani serviceman Nasimi Musayev crossed into Armenia and reached Shaki, a village in the southern Syunik province, where he entered the home of 39-year-old Ani Avetisyan.

Avetisyan’s two school-age children discovered Musayev inside the house when they returned from school. According to her sister, the children called for help and Avetisyan rushed home. When she arrived, Musayev was armed and pointing his weapon toward the children. Avetisyan tried to push the rifle away and was shot. She lost three fingers on her left hand and suffered serious injuries to her thigh and hand. Her 15-year-old son was also injured during the struggle.

Pashinyan gave a different emphasis to the sequence of events, saying police had already been called when Avetisyan decided to go to the house herself.

“The children came and saw that there was a stranger in the house. The mother called the police, but before the police arrived, the mother got there first,” he said. “If they had waited for the police to arrive, there is a high probability that nothing would have happened.”

The comments come during broader questions over how Musayev was able to enter Armenia and remain undetected long enough to reach a civilian community.

Azerbaijani authorities say Musayev left his military unit in the Lachin area on September 26. Armenia’s National Security Service said it was notified by its Azerbaijani counterpart on September 29 that the serviceman was missing and might have illegally crossed into Armenia. Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities then began searches for him.

He was not found until October 1, after the violence in Shaki. The village is about 20 kilometers from the nearest section of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.

Pashinyan described what happened in Shaki as a criminal incident rather than a military operation, rejecting speculation that Musayev had entered Armenia as a saboteur.

Musayev is now in Armenian custody and faces multiple charges, including illegal border crossing, weapons smuggling, causing serious bodily harm with a firearm, illegal firearms offenses and violating the inviolability of a home.

Opposition lawmakers challenged Pashinyan over the breach, arguing that an armed Azerbaijani serviceman had managed to travel deep enough into Armenia to reach a populated area despite authorities knowing for days that he was missing and might have crossed the border.

Pashinyan pushed back, telling lawmakers that a different response to the incident could have triggered a serious confrontation along the border.

“If you were in power, there would have been a very serious exchange of fire along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border over the events in Shaki,” he said.

Lawmakers also pressed the prime minister to say whether Musayev would remain in Armenia rather than be returned to Azerbaijan.

“The case must be investigated, a decision must be made, the verdict must enter into legal force, and he must serve at least part of his sentence in Armenia,” Pashinyan said.

He did not explain why he referred to only part of a potential sentence.

The issue carries particular significance because Armenia has previously returned Azerbaijani servicemen convicted of crimes in the country. In 2023, Yerevan handed two Azerbaijani soldiers back to Baku, including one who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing a guard at the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine. Azerbaijan released 32 Armenian captives the same day.

The parliamentary debate grew increasingly tense as lawmakers continued questioning the government’s response.

Pashinyan warned that the opposition’s rhetoric surrounding Musayev could come back to haunt Armenia if an Armenian serviceman accidentally crossed into Azerbaijan. He noted that military positions in some areas are only about 50 meters apart.

“God forbid one of our soldiers gets lost and ends up in Azerbaijan,” Pashinyan said.

He accused opposition lawmakers of acting as “provocateurs” and said he would hold them responsible for their statements if an Armenian soldier who crossed into Azerbaijan faced similar treatment.

“It is a direct threat,” Pashinyan said of his own warning. “You are provocateurs.”

Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, meanwhile, acknowledged that authorities had made mistakes surrounding Musayev’s entry into Armenia.

“There were failures. They have had consequences and will have consequences,” Papikyan told lawmakers.

He said a fuller account would be possible after internal reviews and investigative proceedings are completed, but did not identify which agencies were being investigated.

Papikyan also rejected the suggestion that Musayev was a saboteur, pointing to his behavior when Armenian authorities detained him.

“He did not resist when the relevant Armenian authorities were arresting him,” Papikyan said. “That is an indication that he was not a saboteur.”

Several days after the Shaki incident, Maj. Gen. Davit Sanamyan was dismissed as deputy director of Armenia’s National Security Service. Sanamyan’s responsibilities included coordinating and overseeing the NSS Border Guard Troops. Pashinyan’s office did not give a reason for his dismissal, and authorities have not publicly established whether it was connected to Musayev’s border crossing.

The government has yet to provide a full public account of where Musayev crossed the border, how he traveled from the frontier to Shaki or why he was not located before the confrontation with the Avetisyan family.

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