Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan receives the General Director of the Global Institute for Water, Environment and Health

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Mətbuat xidmətinin məlumatı 22 December, 2017

On December 22, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Chairman of the State Committee for Affairs of Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov met with a Founder and the General Director of Global Institute for Water, Environment and Health (GIWEH) Dr.Nidal Salim, who came to Azerbaijan on the invitation of the International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF). During the meeting, the sides exchanged their views on inclusion of the information about blockade, occupation of Sarsang water reservoir by Armenia, emergence of difficulties with water supply in the adjacent territories and other problems, in the agenda of the World Water Council, Eurasia Diary informs. Noting that the problem with blockade of Sarsang water reservoir is one of the important issues for our country, the Chairman of the State Committee emphasized the importance of the visit of the General Director of the of Global Institute for Water, Environment and Health to Azerbaijan. The Deputy Prime Minister noted that the Sarsang water reservoir was built in 1976 on the initiative and instruction of our national leader Heydar Aliyev. Its total volume is equal to 560 million cubic meters. The water reservoir provided about 100,000 hectares with irrigation water in 6 regions of Azerbaijan.Speaking about the resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Sarsang water reservoir on January 26, 2016, Ali Hasanov said: "This resolution is both fair and at the same time very tough. In the document, PACE almost unambiguously accused Armenia. Regular deliberate obstruction of the penetration of water from the Sargsan reservoir towards Azerbaijan was called "environmental aggression". This resolution notes that these actions of Armenia conflict with the Helsinki Rules of 1966 and the Berlin Rules of 2004. The resolution requires immediate withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan. If people are restricted for using the water basin, then this is an inhumane act.” Noting that these actions of Armenians are not surprising, the Chairman of the State Committee brought to attention that the territories where the Armenian state is located today are the ancient Azerbaijani lands. At one time, Tsarist Russia placed Armenians on Azerbaijani lands, and a state was created for them on our territories. Yerevan, the current capital of Armenia, previously was the Erivan khanate of Azerbaijan where Azerbaijani population made up 95 percent it the beginning of the 19th century. Today, no any single Azerbaijan has been left there. Azerbaijani people who used to live in Armenia had been deported 4 times in the past 200 years - in 1905, 1918, 1948-1952 and 1988-1992. Referring to the results of the military aggression of the Armenian armed forces against Azerbaijan, the Deputy Prime Minister said that 20% of our lands, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts were occupied, one million two hundred thousand of our compatriots became refugees and internally displaced persons, our national cultural wealth, our infrastructure were destroyed. It was stated that in 1993, the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions on the liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and the return of refugees and internally displaced persons back to their homes. The occupational policy of Armenia was condemned in the resolutions adopted by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other influential international organizations. "There is no any authoritative influential international organization left in the world, which has not expressed its attitude to this conflict. Unfortunately, these resolutions have not been implemented yet. The negotiating process, which lasted more than 20 years under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group, has not yielded any results yet”, Ali Hasanov said.Speaking about the results achieved by Azerbaijan in recent years, Ali Hasanov mentioned the successful policy of the President Ilham Aliyev, a worthy successor to the Great Leader Heydar Aliyev. He also talked about the comprehensive reforms under his leadership, socio-economic programs aimed at the development of the regions, rapid integration in the global economic system, the oil strategy, the results of effective foreign policy, the international prestige of our country, the socio-economic development and socio-political stability in Azerbaijan. It was noted that today, Azerbaijan is in the center of the world attention, in pace of development, tolerance, peacekeeping. As an example of tolerance, Azerbaijan attaches great importance to intercultural and interreligious dialogue. In Azerbaijan, since time immemorial, representatives of all nationalities have been living in peace and prosperity. Noting that the institute he leads is mainly concerned about water security issues, Nidal Salim said that today, water security has become one of the very serious political issues. Speaking about the visit to our country and the meetings held, the guest noted that the main purpose of the visit was the development of a strategy on the issue of the Sarsang water reservoir. Nidal Salim said that during his stay in Azerbaijan he visited the territories adjacent to the Sarsang water reservoir in Tartar region, where he also met with the residents. Nidal Salim stressed the importance of establishing a committee of international experts to find the solutions of this problem.