From shelling Azerbaijani positions to paving the way for ecological disaster Another round of Armenian provocations

Along with armed provocations on the border with Azerbaijan, Armenia has been recently spreading fakes claiming that the Azerbaijani armed forces are regularly shooting at civilian objects on Armenian territory. In particular, the Armenian Defence Ministry has been saying for a couple of weeks that Azerbaijan is shelling the Arazdeyen settlement, where Armenia is building a large metallurgical plant. It should be noted that the construction is taking place almost right next to the Azerbaijani border in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

To spark a public outcry this time the Armenian propaganda campaign against Azerbaijan even involved "Indians who suffered from shelling", as the main shareholder of both the construction and the future plant is a US citizen of Indian origin Singh Kang. So it seems logical that Hindus came to Armenia's borderline zone with Azerbaijan to help a comrade-in-arms build a factory. But Azerbaijanis shelled them, and now "badly wounded Indians" are in a hospital ward "surrounded by friends". Apparently, the Armenians were not affected by the "shelling" for some reason. So they targeted Hindus? A few days ago, a "Zhiguli" car with broken windows was found near a construction site in Arazdeyen; for some reason, they had been broken from the inside. Based on these "facts" (the injured Hindus and the "Zhiguli"), the Armenian Ministry of Defence reported that the construction of the plant was "temporarily halted due to Azerbaijani shelling".

Moreover, in the last couple of weeks, Armenia has promoted its propaganda campaign by stating several times that an ironworks under construction in the village of Arazdoyan is being shelled from the Armenian side. This is basically a continuation of the Armenian revanchist policy of the post-conflict period due to the shift in the power balance in the region after Azerbaijan's victory, which does not suit the Armenian side in any way. Armenia is by no means reconciled to the new realities and is trying hard to destroy them, which is why they are staging armed provocations on the border with Azerbaijan. Deceiving the international community with assurances that it is ready to sign a peace treaty, Yerevan is not only returning to the previous conditions, long rejected by Azerbaijan, but is also inciting Baku to retaliate with armed attacks in order to then declare aggression against "peaceful Armenians" to the world. The story with the "peaceful Hindus" is in this vein.

Here are just the border incidents of recent days, provoked by Armenians. In the Zangilan direction of the state border, the Armenian side opened fire on our border guards with small arms and afterward mortar artillery and barrage ammunition were involved. Construction equipment used in engineering works near the Demirchidam settlement of the Kalbajar region was also fired upon. In other words, the Armenian forces do not limit themselves to any norms of international law.

And the next day, everything happened again: the units of the Armenian armed forces from positions located in the direction of the Goysu settlement of the Basarkechar district fired several times at the positions of our army located in the direction of the Galakend settlement of the Gadabay district, as well as in the direction of the Heydarabad settlement of the Sadarak district of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

As for the story of the "metallurgical plant," which for some reason has found no other place but near the Azerbaijani border, Baku's discontent is justified. Azerbaijan is against a repeat of the situation with the Okhchuchay River, which was poisoned because of Armenia's barbaric attitude to the region's nature. It has been reliably established that Armenian mining enterprises discharge untreated industrial water with an abundance of chemical elements into the Okhchuchay. Along with Armenia, the German company Cronimet is also involved in this environmental crime. Despite Azerbaijan's notification to the German government about this lawlessness, no practical steps have been taken to influence the situation. In the meantime, it is commonly known that Germany itself attaches great importance to environmental protection issues. But somehow, when Armenia is discussed as a regional security threat, Europe prefers to remain silent. Meanwhile, Arazdeyen is historically Azerbaijani land, where Azerbaijanis have lived for centuries. And when they return there, the ecological situation in the region must be suitable for them to live there, their children must grow up healthy and be provided with all natural resources.

In general, the nature of separate regions is united in one way or another - through air, precipitation, soil, rivers, and seas. And the deliberate pollution by Armenians of Azerbaijani rivers such as the Okhchuchay and the Araz. The latter has become a literal collector of Armenian mining enterprises, polluting it with tons of toxic chemicals as it flows through the territory of this country, which can poison the nature of not only Azerbaijan in a certain way. That is why it is high time for the international community to take action against Armenia, which is in flagrant violation of international environmental law, to draw attention to the environmentally hazardous construction of a metallurgical plant in the immediate vicinity of the Araz, the second largest river in the South Caucasus, which is actually quite low in the water. Since it is being built on "American investment", albeit of Armenian origin, the US needs to take responsibility for the environmental consequences of such projects. To begin with, at least hold the company, which carries out the construction, responsible. If its lawlessness persists, it must be subject to certain sanctions. This is standard international practice, so why should Armenia be spared? The US Embassy in Azerbaijan and Armenia should also react adequately.

It goes without saying that the construction of such a plant on the border without the agreement of the Azerbaijani side is a flagrant violation of the 1991 Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, a fact of principle that the US, which usually advocates the implementation of international conventions, seems to turn a blind eye to. But both Azerbaijan and Armenia are parties to the 1991 Espoo Convention, which means that based on its provisions, an environmental impact assessment of the plant must be conducted, and the views of Azerbaijanis, who live on the other side of the border but are still very close to the plant, must be taken into account. Armenia's failure to meet these requirements is an indicator of its destructive policy and blatant violation of international acts and obligations.

Moreover, Baku does not exclude the possibility that the 180 thousand tons-per-year metallurgical facility may pose not only an environmental hazard but also a military one, making it all the more imperative to take serious steps to prevent military, political, and environmental threats to the region.

So far, however, the US State Department has only expressed "concern" over the situation on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border, calling on the sides to refrain from military action, rather than to pressure Yerevan, which is deliberately pursuing military and environmental destabilisation in the region.