2024-03-01 10:38:10
Artsakh State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan’s statement regarding the energy, economic, humanitarian and environmental terrorism carried out by Azerbaijan.
“During the 146-day blockade of the Republic of Artsakh, for 117 days since January 9, Azerbaijan is disrupting the electricity supply from Armenia to Artsakh through the only high-voltage power transmission line, carrying out energy, economic, humanitarian and environmental terrorism, causing additional difficulties and sufferings to the people of Artsakh.
As before, during the blockade of Artsakh, Azerbaijan regularly disrupted, and since March 22, it has finally blocked the supply of gas through the only Armenia-Artsakh pipeline, which has also led to serious humanitarian and economic problems, as well as the inevitable increase in domestic electricity production and power supply. systems overload.
Under such conditions, the Republic of Artsakh is forced to use only the internal infrastructure of electricity production, consisting of 6 hydroelectric power plants, of which only the Sarsang reservoir hydroelectric power plant accounts for about 70 percent of the total capacity. Since before the disruption of the power supply by Azerbaijan, the domestic product of Artsakh met about 30 percent of the demand, since January 9, in order to meet the minimum energy demand of the population, the government of Artsakh had to apply a number of additional measures, including the suspension of the activities of all major economic enterprises, daily electricity fan outages, maximum capacity operation of all existing HPPs, etc.
As a result, not only a number of humanitarian and domestic difficulties have appeared, but also serious environmental problems related to the rapid depletion of the resources of the Sarsang reservoir. Compared to the same period of last year, from January 9 of this year to today, almost three times more water was released from the Sarsang Reservoir, and the water inflow was almost two times less due to the dryness of the current year’s climate. Now the water resources of Sarsang have reached the critical limit, about 88 million m³ (about 15% of the total water capacity), approaching the dead (unusable) volume of about 70 million m³.
This situation not only puts at risk the prospect of electricity supply for the population of Artsakh and deepens the suffering of people, but also has already led to a large negative impact on the environment, including drying up of springs, deterioration of the microclimate, decline of plant and animal species, etc. The immediate non-regulation of the situation and the non-restoration of the normal electricity supply to Artsakh will inevitably lead to a sharp aggravation of the above-mentioned energy, economic, humanitarian and environmental problems and, ultimately, a humanitarian disaster.
It is noteworthy that during the entire period of independence, in contrast to the Soviet years, the water of the Sarsang reservoir was used exclusively for the purpose of irrigating Azerbaijan’s agricultural lands (around 96,000 hectares), because Azerbaijan has always blocked the canal that irrigates the lands of Artsakh. However, by deliberately and criminally disrupting the electricity supply from RA to Artsakh, provoking an artificial energy crisis and forcing the Artsakh side to actively use the very limited water resources of Sarsang, Azerbaijan, in fact, besides subjecting the people of Artsakh to energy, economic and environmental terrorism, is also depriving its own people. from the possibility of getting enough irrigation water from the Sarsang Reservoir during the hot summer months. In fact, it was also for the mentioned criminal purposes that the agents of the government of Azerbaijan, in civilian clothes, or “eco-terrorists”, allegedly fought so vigorously, keeping the people of Artsakh under siege.
Faced with the threat of depletion of Sarsang’s water resources and the domestic potential of Artsakh’s energy production and the imminent danger of a humanitarian disaster, we once again call on the entire international community, the relevant international structures, the governments of countries and all those who are truly concerned about the rights and security of the Artsakh people, not to ignore the energy, humanitarian, this catastrophic environmental and economic situation and take immediate steps to force Azerbaijan to abandon such medieval, terroristic and cruel behavior towards both people and the environment”.
Attached: satellite photos of the Sarsang Reservoir in 2023. as of January 1 and April 28, with a surface of 705.8 and 671.5 meters above sea level, respectively