Azerbaijan urges PACE action to prevent disaster at uncontrolled water reservoir
By Sara Rajabova
The Association for Civil Society Development in Azerbaijan has launched a project aimed at preventing a possible humanitarian catastrophe related to the Sarsang water reservoir in the Armenian-occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
President of the Association, MP Elkhan Suleymanov has appealed to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe President, the Secretary General of PACE and a PACE bureau over the issue, urging to take drastic measures to release the Sarsang reservoir from the Armenian occupation.
Sarsang, the highest water reservoir of Azerbaijan situated 726 meters above sea level (with the dam 125 meters high and capacity of 560 million cubic meters), was built on the Tartar River during the Soviet times in 1976.
Since 1992, the Sarsang reservoir has been under the control of the Armenian armed forces, and as a result, the frontline regions have been deprived of the opportunity to use its water.
According to the appeal, the invading country draws down water from the Sarsang reservoir, flooding the land and destroying roads. As a result, the economy of Azerbaijan, including agriculture, has sustained serious damage, the vegetation has been destroyed, irreversible changes have taken place in the biological structure of the soil, and finally, the region's environment has been severly affected.
The appeal said the aim of the project is to inform both the Azerbaijani and international community about the condition of the Sarsang reservoir, the likelihood of a humanitarian disaster, as well as the adoption of relevant documents by international organizations and preparation of a package of measures to prevent a humanitarian disaster and an environmental crisis.
Though PACE MPs have twice presented a draft document on the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, in accordance with the procedural rules, the Bureau each time blocked the submission of this document for discussion, the appeal noted.
Given the seriousness of the problem, on June 25 the Bureau received a new draft document on the Sarsang reservoir, which was signed by 45 deputies from 18 European countries.
"We hope that at the next meeting of the Bureau the draft will not share the fate of the previous ones and members of the Bureau will demonstrate that they are not indifferent to a new possible tragedy in the Council of Europe area," the appeal said.
As a result of the Armenian occupation following a brutal war in the early 1990s, seven regions of Azerbaijan can no longer use water from the reservoir, which is currently in an emergency condition as it has not been maintained due to the occupation.
Engineers and hydrologists have predicted that if the dam fails it will inundate more than 30 villages. Currently the risk of a disaster due to an accident is very high and the lives of 400,000 Azerbaijani citizens who live in the six regions downstream are in immediate danger.
Earlier, The Wall Street Journal published an article on Sarsang Reservoir. According to the article, MPs from 18 European nations have called for "urgent and immediate political action" over the state of the reservoir in an emergency motion to the PACE.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict for over two decades. Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that sparked a lengthy war in the early 1990s. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to date.