At COP29 Azerbaijan reminded about contamination of the Caspian Sea caused by Armenia

Azerbaijan started arbitral proceeding to hold Armenia liable for discharge of harmful substances into the border rivers contaminating the Caspian Sea, Aykhan Hajizada, the chief spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, announced.

Igor Korotchenko, the General Director of the Caspian Institute for Strategic Studies (Russia) talked to the correspondent of the Vestnik Kavkaza about the trouble for the regional environment created by Armenia.

«Armenia’s rapacious attitude towards the environment is well known. We all remember that in the part of Karabakh not yet controlled by Baku Armenian miners continued to mine gold and other mineral reserves violating not only the laws of Azerbaijan, but all the environmental standards. We also remember environmental activists in Azerbaijan raising their voice against that, and it was not without a reason. Armenia is the country that does not care much about its international image as it puts the stake on its external patrons, hence, its negligent and even criminal attitude towards the environment is only natural. Armenia is counting on not being held liable», – he said.

«The fact that Armenian industrial effluents contaminate water resources both in Armenia and in Azerbaijan and then get into the Caspian Sea is of great concern for everyone in the region except for Yerevan. That is why the efforts by Azerbaijan in the environmental sphere inevitably include holding Armenia liable and putting an end to contamination of rivers in the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan is demonstrating responsible behavior and recognize the importance of the environmental green agenda both for the system of international relations and in assuring future stability in the region. There are many problems for the Caspian Sea right now associated with contamination and with shallowing, and Armenia constitutes an additional threat to the environment, so there is a need to raise this issue again and again and to force Yerevan to behave responsibly», – Igor Korotchenko emphasized.

«We should not forget that the crimes committed by Armenia in the occupied Azerbaijanian territories include turning 20% of Azerbaijanian lands into barren wasteland. During the years of occupation, the nature and agricultural lands of Azerbaijan were destroyed in a barbarous way, contaminated with mines and disrupted by the moribund behavior of Armenian authorities towards environmental issues. This, too, requires assessment and filing suits against Armenia in international courts to make it liable for environmental crimes», – the General Director of CISS appealed.

The expert emphasized that it would be logical for all the Caspian states to join their efforts in holding Armenia liable, because contamination of the Caspian Sea is a threat to all of them. «We have «the Caspian Five», so claims against Armenia should be filed at the international level. It could strengthen the impact on Yerevan with respect of the negative problems that Armenia is bringing into the Caspian basin including contamination of water resources flowing into the Caspian Sea. This could even be the subject of the direct appeal to Yerevan on behalf of «the Caspian Five» about termination of such activities or the subject of negotiations with mandatory settlement of problems caused by Armenia including the ones in financial and economic sphere», – Igor Korotchenko proposed.

«Taking into account that Azerbaijan today is de-facto the chief moderator of all the global processes in the South Caucasus, and the environmental agenda is extremely important, especially linked with COP29 summit, the claims against Armenia need to be voiced, and not only on the track of bilateral relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but in multilateral format as well. We need to force Armenia to come to the table for negotiations about the compensation of damages and termination of harm to the regional environment», – he concluded.

Remember that the capital of Azerbaijan will be hosting COP29 (the UN conference on climate) between 11 and 22 of November. Delegations from over 80 countries arrived to Baku. Such conferences represent the only international platform for centralized global discussion on climate change, they are held annually, and this year it will be in Azerbaijan.