Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

In an effort to achieve its goals, using the help of foreign patrons, Armenia at different times carried out a policy of ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis through horrific terrorist acts and genocide.

For 200 years, the Azerbaijani people, confronted with aggressive policies and genocide consistently carried out by Armenian nationalists.

Abdullayeva, acting spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, stated that as a result of Armenia's military aggression, the nature of the Republic of Azerbaijan, its biodiversity and the ecological situation in the region have led to serious consequences, resulting in environmental degradation and the region's natural resources have been under constant exploitation.

Since 2001, the UN General Assembly has declared November 6 International Day for the Prevention of the Environment at War and Armed Conflict, she added.

Abdullayeva noted that currently, 261,000 hectares of forest areas occupied by Armenian armed forces have been destroyed, including valuable forest areas, natural monuments and 145 eastern chinars, which have been imported, as well as various plants included in the "Red Book of the Republic of Azerbaijan" and most of the animal species, specially protected and protected areas, and rare biodiversity patterns were destroyed.

Moreover, Azerbaijani natural water sources passing through the occupied territories are exposed to large-scale pollution by Armenia. As a result of the sharp contamination of Oxchuchay and Agstafachay, which is the branches of the Araz and Kura rivers, there is a serious threat to the living environment in the rivers. The Sarsang reservoir, built on the Tartar River and irrigated by an area of 100,000 hectares, occupies the water in the winter season, and in the summer months, sharp water scarcity threatens 400,000 people living in foothills and interiors.

It is no coincidence that the resolution on the deliberate deprivation of the residents of the frontier districts of Azerbaijan adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in 2016 demanded an immediate withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the region and ensured the investigation by independent engineers and hydrologists, she noted.

Abdullayeva said that 163 mineral deposits, including gold, mercury, copper, lead, zinc, coal and other resources are occupied by the Armenians in the occupied territories. The environmental standards have not adhered at the exploitation of the natural resources of the occupied territories and as a result, the environment is also seriously damaged.

Despite the relevant provisions of international law and its international commitments, this policy of Armenia exploiting environmental and natural resources in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan once again demonstrates its indifferent and non-constructive position towards the region's sustainable development and progress. International community, especially in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, in any way involves illegal activities and natural resources, with the involvement of physical and juridical persons, the countries involved should refrain from assisting any serious breach of international law, Abdullayeva added.

As a result of Armenia's armed invasion into Azerbaijan's legal territory, the two neighbouring countries have remained locked in a bitter territorial dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Armenia-backed separatists seized from Azerbaijan in a bloody war in the early 1990s.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Despite Baku's best efforts, peace in the occupied lands remains a mirage in the distance as Armenia refuses to comply with international law.

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