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Azerbaijan says use of water resources as a means of eco terror and pressure is state policy in Armenia

19 July 2017 12:50 (UTC +04:00)

Armenia’s use of water resources as a means of ecological terror and pressure is a policy that is being carried out at state level, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hikmet Hajiyev told APA on Wednesday.

Hajiyev noted that this policy is being applied in relation to the rivers flowing through Armenia to Azerbaijan, as well as water resources in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories, including the Sarsang water reservoir.

According to the spokesman, Armenia’s deliberate pollution of water resources flowing to Azerbaijan is another facet of the current problem.

He stressed that Armenia’s deputy ecology minister Erik Grigoryan’s statement about the halting of water resources joining the Aras River from Armenia in order to prevent water flow to Azerbaijan is proof of Armenia’s abuse of water resources as a means of ecological terror and threat.

“For this reason, Armenia is demonstratively refusing to join the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, also known as the Water Convention, in a bid to evade from civil behavior and obligations,” Hajiyev said. “Nevertheless, Armenia has obligations under the 1966 Helsinki and 2004 Berlin Rules on the uses of the waters of international rivers, the UN General Assembly's law on transboundary aquifers, the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly’s resolution on transboundary water basins in Europe, etc..”

Hajiyev recalled that in 2016 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) passed a resolution, titled “The inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water.

“In the resolution, the PACE regarded Armenia’s policy regarding the border rivers and the Sarsang reservoir in the occupied Azerbaijani lands as ecological terror,” the spokesman said. “According to these documents, the right to use water is important for life and health, and unhindered access to water is a fundamental right, a source of life for each state and is of strategic importance.”

Azerbaijan constantly briefs relevant international organization about Armenia’s policy of “water terror”, Hajiyev said.

He added that the latest statement from the Armenian side will also be submitted for discussion in relevant international organizations.