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Azerbaijani parliament discusses drying of Urmia Lake in Iran

30 September 2011 10:36 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov â€“ APA. Azerbaijani parliament held the first meeting of the autumn session of 2011. Several parliamentarians raised the issue on the drying of Urmia Lake in Iran and criticized the measures taken by the Iranian government against the Azerbaijanis objecting to it, APA reports. MP Ganira Pashayeva said millions of Azerbaijanis living in South Azerbaijan faced danger because of the drying of Urmia Lake. She addressed the Iranian parliament:
â€œHear the voice of the Azerbaijanis. The Azerbaijanis, who object to the drying of Urmia Lake, are arrested, injured, their families undergo repressions. It influences the lives of millions of Azerbaijanis. There is not a state in the world, where more than half of the population fails to study in their mother tongue. I call on the Iranian parliament to spend the money allocated for Seher channel, which is functioning against Azerbaijan, to prevent drying of Urmia Lake.â€

Ganira Pashayeva called on the international organizations not to ignore these processes.

In his speech, Fazail Aghamali said that the drying up of this lake will create environmental problems. Azerbaijan will feel consequences of these problems more. MP said that Azerbaijani Parliament can demand the Iranian Parliament to increase its activity towards the prevention of these problems. He said Baku should offer its assistance to Iran in this field.

Faraj Guliyev and Siyavush Novruzov also supported Pashayevaâ€™s opinion. Novruzov considers that the separate declaration can be adopted on this problem: â€œBut the Azerbaijanis living there must raise their voices. They must be active tooâ€.

Igbal Aghazadeh said that the rights of 35 million of Azerbaijanis are violated in Iran. MP, who compared this process with Bakuâ€™s silence to deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia in 1988, underlined that the drying up of Urmia Lake aims to force 14 million of Azerbaijanis living around the lake to leave this area: â€œThe government of Azerbaijan must strongly oppose this step. The relevant organizations must display their positions keenlyâ€.