Azerbaijani non-governmental organisations condemn Armenian eco-terrorism in Garabagh

Azerbaijani non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have issued a statement about the Armenian environmental terror in Garabagh, expressing deep concern about the situation at the Sarsang reservoir.

“The use of the Sarsang reservoir by Armenia and the illegal formations supported by Armenia as a means of ecological and socio-economic terror against the Azerbaijani population is unacceptable. The Sarsang reservoir, commissioned 47 years ago, should be repaired and restored," the NGOs said in a statement on August 31, according to Report.

"Armenia has been illegally using this reservoir for more than 30 years, engaging in economic and environmental criminal activity. The continuation of these actions is unacceptable. According to the Azerbaijani official agencies’ statement on Sarsang, the current emergency situation with the reservoir poses a big threat to the settlements, farms and infrastructure facilities located in its lower part,” the statement added.

The Sarsang water reservoir which is located in the Garabagh region, fell under the control of the separatist Armenian armed forces in November 1992. Since coming under Armenian control, however, the flow of water has been under question.

As a result of the Armenian occupation of the area in which the Sarsang reservoir is located, hundreds of thousands of people living in the frontier regions of Azerbaijan have been deprived of quality drinking water. There are also serious concerns regarding the maintenance of the reservoir.

Constructed in 1976 on the Tartar River, the Sarsang water reservoir in Karabakh used to provide drinking and irrigation water for more than a hundred thousand hectares of fertile land in six regions of the country (Terter, Aghdam, Barda, Goranboy, Yevlakh and Aghjabedi).

In December 2015, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) rapporteur Milica Marković of Bosnia-Herzegovina underlined that those responsible for the reservoir were “deliberately depriving” adjoining Azerbaijani-controlled regions of water, warning that a lack of regular technical maintenance for the Sarsang dam means that the reservoir endangers the entire area.

PACE Resolution 2085 on “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water” (2016) deplored the fact that the occupation by Armenia of Garabagh and other adjacent areas of Azerbaijan has created humanitarian and environmental problems for the citizens of Azerbaijan living in the lower Garabagh valley.