Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has appointed rapporteur on Azerbaijan's Sarsang reservoir, which is under Armenian occupation.

The meeting of the PACE Committee on social affairs, health and sustainable development took place in Nicosia (Cyprus), on May 12, the Association for Civil Society Development in Azerbaijan (ACSDA) told Trend news agency.

The meeting considered the appointment of the rapporteur under a draft resolution relating to the state of Sarsang reservoir and the danger that the reservoir poses for the population of the surrounding areas.

Sarsang, the highest water reservoir of Azerbaijan situated 726 meters above sea level, 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 its water.

MP from Bosnia and Herzegovina Milis Markovic was appointed the rapporteur on the issue.

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 situation, because it has not been maintained due to the occupation.

Engineers and hydrologists have predicted that if the dam breaks down, it will flood more than 30 villages. The risk of a disaster resulting from an accident is currently very high and the lives of 400,000 Azerbaijani citizens who live in the six regions downstream are in immediate danger.

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.