Ms. Milica Markovic, the PACE rapporteur in the context of the preparation of the report titled “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water”, is on a visit to Azerbaijan.
Changes in the socio-economic situation in six districts – Aghjabadi, Aghdam, Barda, Goranboy, Tartar, and Yevlakh – affected by the reservoir which is under Armenian occupation, the population living in these regions suffering from shortage of drinkable water, the agricultural crisis in the region that has emerged in the wake of shortage of water, modification in the region’s bio-diversity, the threatening situation of 400,000 people living in the lower part of the reservoir because of lack of technical care to it and its installations over the last two decades, etc. were discussed. The civil society expressed serious concern about these issues.
The issue on Sarsang reservoir was for the first time raised in May 2013 as the ACSDA launched the project “Sarsang – Prevention of Humanitarian Catastrophe”. After the motion titled “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water” submitted to PACE by Elkhan Suleymanov, MP, member of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, Milica Markovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina, SOC) was appointed rapporteur on the issue at the PACE Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development on 12 May 2014.
Markovic’s visit to Azerbaijan will last till 27 August. She also carried out a similar fact-finding visit to the country in December 2014. During the visit, the rapporteur is due to meet some officials and with representatives of local authorities in Aghdam, Aghjabadi, Barda, Goranboy, Tartar and Yevlakh districts.