Azernews.Az

By Trend

First of all, in principle, of course Azerbaijani ecological experts and any other citizens of Azerbaijan should be free to visit any territory of Azerbaijan they wish, former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza told Trend.

He was commenting on the ongoing protests of Azerbaijani NGOs in the area of temporary deployment of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh.

“Unfortunately, as we know, throughout the years of conflict and the occupation, this has not been practically possible under many circumstances, especially for security reasons. I don’t know the exact location of the natural resources sites that Azerbaijani NGOs wish to visit. Of course, from a legal perspective Azerbaijani NGOs have every right to visit those parts of Azerbaijani territory,” said the former ambassador.

Bryza believes that in a long run it is not a good situation to have Russian peacekeepers ob the ground in Azerbaijan.

“However, to this point, they’ve played a relatively constructive role, much more constructive that the role they have played in Georgia and Moldova where they have made conflicts worse rather than keeping the peace,” he added.

Members of Azerbaijani non-government organizations have been protesting for three days straight near Shusha, where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is temporarily stationed.

The protests are connected with the illegal exploitation of Azerbaijani mineral resources on this land. The only thing that the protestors demand is the arrival of Andrei Volkov, who is the commander of Russian peacekeepers. However, their demand hasn’t been heard yet. The protestors are provided with hot food and water. They are quite positive, they do not plan to leave. They say that if it’s necessary, they’ll be here for a week, for ten days, as long as it takes until their demands are heard.

Previously, following the negotiations with the Russian peacekeepers' command on December 3 and 7, 2022, a group of experts from the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the State Property Service under the Ministry of Economy, and AzerGold CJSC on December 10, was going to begin the preliminary monitoring in accordance with the illegal exploitation of mineral deposits, as well as the emerging environmental and other consequences of this on the territory of Azerbaijan.

It was planned to inspect the environmental conditions at the 'Gizilbulagh' gold deposit and the 'Damirli' copper-molybdenum deposit, monitor various areas, organize cadastral property records, assess potential risks and threats to the environment, as well as to underground and surface water sources.

However, despite the group's arrival, accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, in the monitoring area, it faced provocations. The planned initial inspection and monitoring did not take place due to the fact that the Russian peacekeepers not only did not create necessary conditions but also prevented the entire process to carry on.

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