BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 6. The territories of Azerbaijan remained under the occupation of Armenia for many years, Chairman of the Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-Speaking Countries (TURKPA) on the Environment, Natural Resources and Health Protection, MP Ahliman Amiraslanov said at a meeting of the commission, Trend reports.
As a result of the 2020 second Karabakh war, the Azerbaijani army liberated the country’s lands, Amiraslanov reminded.
“During the occupation, Armenia not only destroyed our cities and villages, but also caused serious damage to the environment - they committed ecological terror,”
"Armenians are still committing environmental terror in the territory of Azerbaijan. Our environmental activists and representatives of non-governmental organizations are holding a protest rally and demanding an end to environmental terror," he added.
The peaceful protest on the Lachin-Khankendi road against the illegal exploitation of Azerbaijan's mineral resources in the area of Russian peacekeepers' temporary deployment has been going on since December 12, 2022.
Previously, following the talks with the Russian peacekeepers' command on December 3 and 7, 2022, a group of experts from the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the State Property Service under the Ministry of Economy, and AzerGold CJSC were going to begin preliminary monitoring of the illicit mineral resource exploitation, as well as emerging environmental implications on Azerbaijani lands, where the Russian peacekeepers are temporarily deployed, on December 10, 2022.
The expert team was expected to inspect the environmental condition at the 'Gizilbulagh' gold deposit and the 'Damirli' copper-molybdenum deposit, monitor various areas, organize cadastral property records, assess potential risks and threats to the environment, as well as to underground and surface water sources.
However, the expert group, accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, faced provocations when arriving in the monitoring area. The planned initial inspection and monitoring did not take place due to the fact that the Russian peacekeepers not only did not create necessary conditions but also prevented the entire process from carrying on.