Official: Armenia uses water as means of environmental terror

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

It is a well-known fact that environmental protection means nothing for the Armenian government. But an even more important problem is that Armenia causes environmental harm to its neighbors, as rivers originating in Armenia flow into neighboring countries.

The ratio of fresh water in South Caucasus is allocated like 62 percent to Georgia, 28 percent to Armenia and 10 percent to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan’s two largest rivers, the Kura and Araz pass through Armenia and Armenians have been regularly polluting them for many years. Both rivers play a major part in agriculture and the economy of Azerbaijan.

“The use of water resources as a tool for ecological terror and pressure is the state policy of Armenia,” Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told APA on July 19.

He said that the official Yerevan applies this policy to rivers flowing from Armenia to Azerbaijan and water resources in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, including the Sarsang reservoir.

“Armenia’s Deputy Ecology Minister Erik Grigoryan’s statement about the halting of water resources entering the basin of the Araz river from Armenia in order to prevent water flow to Azerbaijan proves once again that Armenia uses water as a means of environmental terror and threat,” said Hajiyev.

He added that Armenia demonstratively refuses to join the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, better known as the Water Convention, in an effort to evade from civil behavior and obligations.

“Nevertheless, Armenia has obligations under the 1966 Helsinki and 2004 Berlin Rules on the Use of the Waters of International Rivers, the UN General Assembly's Law on Transboundary Aquifers, the PACE Resolution on Transboundary Water Basins in Europe, and other international documents,” Hajiyev noted.

The spokesman further recalled that in 2016 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe passed a resolution titled “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water.”

“In the resolution, Armenia’s policy regarding the border rivers and the Sarsang reservoir in the occupied Azerbaijani lands is indicated as ecological terror,” said Hajiyev. “The right to use water is important for life and health, according to these documents. Unhindered access to water is a fundamental right, a source of life, and is of strategic importance for every country.”

He added that Azerbaijan constantly raises the issue of Armenia’s environmental terrorism and its policy of “water terrorism” in international organizations. Hajiyev said that the latest statement of the Armenian side will also be submitted for discussion to relevant international organizations.

Today Armenia illegally remains in 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory and continues ecological terror against Azerbaijan, but international organizations are yet to take necessary actions against the aggressor country.