A deadly incident with potentially serious consequences took place on the Armenian-Turkish border on the night of July 31.
Armenian and Turkish sources have provided conflicting versions of the event. They agree, however, that a Turkish shepherd was shot dead after crossing into Armenian territory.
Kars Governor Eyup Tepe claimed that without warning “Armenian soldiers” opened fire on 35-year-old Mustafa Ulker, as he was trying to retrieve his “sheep” from the Armenian side. The Turkish governor accused Armenians of using “excessive force,” alleging that “the shepherd did not have a gun in his hand.” Another local Turkish official, Osman Ugurlu, identified the intruder as a Turkish citizen of Azeri origin who was armed only with a knife and was shot in the back.
In a diplomatic note of protest delivered to Armenia, the Turkish Foreign Ministry stated: “We strongly condemn the shooting of an innocent citizen for a simple border infringement apparently made very innocently. There is no valid explanation for the disproportionate use of Armenian force in such an ordinary event.” In a separate public statement, Ankara called on Armenia to show “good sense” in its relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, warning Yerevan of the dire consequences of wrong moves that could endanger regional stability and peace.
Armenia disputed the Turkish version of events, stating that two young Turkish men had crossed the border at 3 a.m. to steal sheep. When Russian soldiers guarding the Armenian frontier ordered the intruders to go back, the Turks mocked them and refused to retreat. The border guards then fired two warning shots in the air at which point one of the Turks opened fire on them. The Russian troops responded, killing one Turkish intruder, according to the Armenian Border Department of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.
Turkish sources have repeatedly stressed that the shepherd was shot by Armenians, despite Ankara’s awareness that Russian troops are the ones guarding Armenia’s borders with Turkey and Iran, in line with the Moscow-Yerevan agreement of 1992. Instead of blaming the Russians, the Turkish government insists on holding Armenia responsible for the shepherd’s killing, turning it into an Armenian-Turkish incident rather than a Russian-Turkish quarrel.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry issued a restrained statement, expressing regret for the loss of life and hoping that such incidents will not recur in the future. It is clear that Yerevan does not wish to inflame tempers and trigger a more serious incident with unintended consequences.
It is understandable that Turkish leaders would want to exaggerate the significance of this relatively minor border incident in order to detract attention from Turkey’s multitude of domestic and foreign troubles, in particular the:
· ongoing mass protests in Turkey, which are challenging Prime Minister Erdogan’s despotic rule;
· arrest of 3,000 demonstrators, as well as the injuring of 8,000 and killing of 5 others as a result of the “disproportionate use of force” by Turkish police;
· announcements placed in major American, British, and German newspapers denouncing Erdogan’s “Nazi-like” actions (His threatened lawsuit against The (London) Times for publishing a full-page paid letter, signed by dozens of prominent Western intellectuals and artists, would more widely expose his intimidating tactics);
· letter addressed to Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul by 46 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives asking him to condemn the recent anti-Semitic statements of Turkish leaders, including Erdogan, who referred to Zionism as a “crime against humanity” and blamed the recent Gezi Park protests on Jewish instigators;
· serious internal feuds with Kurdish groups, opposition political parties, and high-ranking imprisoned military leaders;
· repeated military intrusions into Iraqi Kurdistan;
· strained relations with Egypt’s new rulers after the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi, Erdogan’s fellow Islamist;
· frictions with Cyprus, Greece, Iran, Iraq, and Israel, and hostilities with Syria; and
· bombing of the Turkish Embassy in Somalia last month by an al-Qaeda-linked group.
With all of these problems swirling in and around Turkey, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s announced policy of “zero problems with neighbors” has turned into “zero neighbors without problems.”
At a time when Armenians are planning worldwide commemorations of the Genocide Centennial, Turkey can ill afford to add a border clash with Armenia to its host of troubles, as it would only serve to publicize Turkey’s long list of past and present crimes!
Harut Sassounian
I can understand why Armenians would not believe the official Turkish story here…. But come on, does anyone actually buy the Armenian side either? You expect me to believe that two men ILLEGALLY crossed the Armenian border to STEAL sheep and then proceeded to mock ARMED soldiers when confronted? And then THEY opened fire on Russian soldiers who merely fired warning shots? One or two shepards (depending on your preferred source) fired upon armed soldiers who very likely way outnumbered them??? Those must have been two cocky morons.
Tell me anything True that the Turks put forth regarding Armenia and Armenians? Lets face it, Turkeys whole past is lie, puposely covered up by its own leaders. Talk about facts?
RVDV, we always ignore its YOU Turks that closed the border. And with to its two main stipulations before any opening being:
1. Return the Azeri’s to occupy some more Armenian lands after they themselves started the war and LOST.
2. Forget everything about the genocide.
My advice next time to is to never cross the border.
Either way Turkey’s quarrel should be with Russia, but they’re just too fond of using Armenians as scapegoats.
Suren, maybe Turkey does not understand why any country would allow another nation’s soldiers to guard its border? As for the over-egged and quite ludicrous “Armenian version” of this event – it is nothing but a shameless lie to cover-up the inexcusable murder of a civilian by the Russian criminals that run that part of Armenia’s border.
Armenians are responsible for the border does not matter who did the killing!
I wonder what those Turkish “shepherds” doing in Syria??They are training and supporting, Al-Qaeda, Wahhabi, Al-Nusra terrorists, where hundreds of innocent Armenian population killed or kidnapped by them!!
Turks are proud of having killed and conquered, of having destroyed and pillaged. Yes. Indeed the level of moronism Armenian “side” accuses them of is very much possible.
Let there be no doubts in your minds when the opportunist and illegal state of Turkey closed borders with Armenia twenty years ago on behalf of another artificial state for cheap oil, she was well aware she was entering into an “undeclared” state of war with Armenia. In such a situation, Armenia is fully justified to take any action she sees fit to protect her borders.
The blame for the death of the shepherd is misdirected and instead it should be directed to the provocative and trouble-making Turkish government which created this hostile atmosphere in the first place. If I were in charge of the Armenian government, I would reward and promote the border guards involved in taking actions to keep the border clear of any Turkish trespassers.
Also, keep in mind that the illegal Turkish state never was a direct party to the conflict between Armenia and the fabricated state of gas-station-istan across the border to take such action to not only close borders with Armenian but to keep it closed for twenty years. Never forget that the Turkish leaders are wolves in sheep’s clothing who dance around their empty and “seemingly” conciliatory rhetoric for the world consumption but in reality and behind the scenes they work relentlessly to cause damage to the Armenians at any cost.
Other primary reasons for Turkey to take such illegal steps to close borders with Armenia are: To force Armenians to give up on their fight to bring Turkey to face justice for the mass extermination and the genocide of 1,500,000 Armenians and to make them give up on their demands to liberate occupied Armenian provinces in eastern Turkey.
Not knowing the full facts regarding the shooting, I neither condone nor condemn it. In general, I am opposed to violence and the ‘collateral damage’ to innocent lives that comes with it, but Ararat has presented a good argument for Armenia defending its rights and taking action against enemy incursions.
{“…maybe Turkey does not understand why any country would allow another nation’s soldiers to guard its border?”} says our Turk guest Steve.
.
Then, maybe Turkey needs to look into its own back yard:
–There are 40,000 foreign troops of the TSK ‘guarding’ the ‘border’, the Green Line, between North and South Cyprus.
Why aren’t the ‘native’ Cypriot Turks guarding it (well, actually not native, but invaders from 5,000 kilometers away and 500 years ago) ? Guess why.
–Recently, Turkey requested from its NATO defense pact partners help in defending its population and territory from hypersuperpower Syria: several batteries of Patriots are in place, manned by…German and Dutch troops.
Why isn’t Turkey guarding its own borders with Syria all by itself ?
Why are foreign troops there ?
Which part of “another nation’s soldiers” doesn’t Turkey understand ?
.
And there is nothing unusual about Russian troops guarding RoA’s borders with Turkey:
–About 30,000 US troops are guarding, together with SK troops the Korean DMZ, SK’s border with NK. Guess why.
–Japan has a very small military, for a country its size: its entire National defense against potential adversaries such as China, Russia, NK, etc is fully on US Military: “Another nation’s soldiers”.
You Turks don’t like Russian troops in RoA, because that interferes with your Pan-Turanic plans to wipe out RoA and NKR.
And the original criminals in the region are your nomadic ancestors who criminally invaded somebody else’s property, and proceeded with their characteristic pillage, theft, murder – and then, finally, the Armenian Genocide.
Do you know of any bigger criminals than the Turk criminals who murdered about 2 million (1895-1923) Armenian civilians ?
Do you know of any bigger criminals who, to this day, deny it and attack anyone who accepts it ?
.
About the Russian troops guarding RoA’s border with Turkey: RoA is a member of CIS.
Russian troops are there under the CIS Defense Pact, CSTO.
Where is the problem ?
You don’t like it ? Tough cookies.
Lobby your Turkish government to quit NATO, and then come and complain about Russian troops on RoA’s border.
.
About the ‘murder’ of the shepherd.
When you violate the border of another country, you can get legally shot, if you disobey orders of the guards to halt.
We may never know what really happened, but if the (real) shepherd didn’t understand the command, or got confused, or scared and ran, the border guard had the absolute right to shoot to stop him from running away, after he had broken into RoA territory.
How is a guard to know who the ‘shepherd’ is ?
Would an infiltrator on a scouting or sabotage mission wear a sign ?
And if the (real) shepherd had a flock of sheep on the Turkish side, and was about to go into RoA to retrieve a lost one, why is it that the Turkish guards who were no doubt aware of his presence, did not try to stop him with a loudspeaker,or fire warning shots in the air ?
How could a flock of sheep so close to a sensitive border not be known about by the Turkish guards?
When the shepherd was shot, Turkish media immediately started shouting that ‘Armenians’ had shot him “without a warning”.
How would they know ? Only way would be if there was a 2nd guy who managed to get away and lied about it; or Turkish border guards were watching the whole thing unfold, and reported what they saw, with some embellishments. And if they saw, why didn’t they stop the shepherd in the first place ?
Or Turks simply manufactured a lie about the ‘no-warning’, to whip up the usual Anti-Armenian hate and hysteria in Turkey.
.
When a Turkish F-4 reconnaissance jet violated Syria’s borders, just barely, it got shot down. Two dead Turkish pilots.
Turkey first tried to cover up the intrusion; claimed the F-4 was outside Syria; manufactured all sorts of implausible, contradictory lies.
Threatened to retaliate: what a surprise.
Then finally, Turkey quietly admitted that the jet had in fact invaded Syrian space, and all was forgotten.
.
Sad that the Turkish shepherd was killed, if he was a real shepherd.
But he did make a deliberate effort to cross a well marked, well guarded, highly sensitive international border; he deliberately crossed a large river.
He didn’t just accidentally stroll into another country.
You always know you are right when an Armenian calls you a Turk. It’s Godwin’s Law for Armenians.
{“…maybe Turkey does not understand why any country would allow another nation’s soldiers to guard its border”}
.
{“nothing but a shameless lie to cover-up the inexcusable murder of a civilian by the Russian criminals”}
.
Those two statements clearly show your loyalties and agenda.
How many Armenians do not understand why Russian troops of the CSTO guard the RoA border with Turkey ?
Which country prevented Turkey from invading RoA in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan, during the NKR war, when Azerbaijan was losing massively ?
You, an ‘Armenian’, actually thinks RoA could have fought off a Turkish invasion then for any length of time ?
You, an ‘Armenian’, actually thinks RoA can withstand a full-on invasion by Turkey for any length of time today ?
What Armenian calls Russian border guards who shot someone who had deliberately crossed a sensitive border into RoA territory ‘criminals’ ?
‘Murder’ ? How did you figure that out ? Were you there ?
Obviously you have a beef against Russians.
Which ethnos has a historic beef with Russians ?
Who would call it ‘murder’ ?
@avery, do not get confused, now was the act of killing a shepherd correct or not? if you defend this action lets say by any miracle if an armenian were to cross the border and got shot, i wont see you here whining about genocidal invading turks right? :)
Anton
You are asking a demagogic question. Killing a “shepherd” who knowingly crosses an enemy border, and after having heard warning shots, is something that could be expected at any such border. Whether the shepherd was a Turk or Armenian, it would be a regrettable incident, as it is now. But, assunming that the version of the command of the Russian border guard is correct – and so far there has been no evidence or argument from the Turkish side to dispute it – then the Turkish side too could be found to have its own share in creating the tension by negligently, or deliberately, allowing its citizens to cross such a sensitive enemy border causing unforeseeable incidents.
Aarshag – so you think that Turkey should consider Armenia an enemy and the border an “enemy border”? Or are you just under the delusion that we are still in the Soviet 1980s (though by then shooting border trespassers dead had gone out of fashion even in East Berlin). I’ll repost here what I posted as part of a comment made elsewhere (given that Avery seems to think quoting me is OK): “Turkey’s continuing genocide denials allows far too many Armenians to think they have a free licence to behave disgustingly”.
I believe in the end, despite the overwhelming odds, Armenia will always come out on top and will be the last man standing, nations like Turkey and Azerbaijan, will end up eating themselves, Turkey I wouldn’t be surprised if it fell into civil war some time post Erdogan, given turkey’s modern history being tainted with coups and so many political tensions between the left, right, far right and far left, the sunnis, the Shias, the ethnic Kurds, Laz, Alevi (all who accuse the Turkish government of discrimination). All that tension is soon bound to spill over sooner or later. :)
That said I urge all Armenians to pray for peace with your neighbours and to pray folly your country. Please, I urge you all