Azerbaijani deputy minister slams Armenians setting fires in Karabakh

Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Rauf Hajiyev has said that during the period of occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by the Armenians, they not only destroyed cities and settlements, but also cut down forests with rare species of trees and caused great damage to the local fauna.

“About 40 per cent of the territory of the Basitchay Reserve, in which a rare species of the Eastern plane tree grows, was cut down and burned by the Armenian invaders,” Hajiyev told Report.

During the period of occupation, hundreds of hectares of forests were destroyed in the Gubadli, Kalbajar and Fuzuli districts.

“Armenia’s cruel attitude towards nature did not stop even after the signing of the tripartite agreement on November 10, 2020. The ecological terror continued. The Armenians were setting fire to the forests of the Khojaly and Lachin districts. The fires set by the Armenians destroy the habitats of rare and endemic species of flora and fauna, and also cause great damage to the entire ecosystem of the region,” the deputy minister noted.

He said that these facts are direct evidence of ecological terror and the hostile attitude of the Armenian side not only towards the Azerbaijani people, but also towards Azerbaijan’s nature.

“They pose a threat to the entire region as a whole. All these facts will be examined and evaluated by us within the international law.”