PACE reports on need for international control over Sarsang Reservoir

At the plenary session held on January 26, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has examined two documents relating to the Karabakh conflict. MPs have adopted one of the resolutions proposed by the Azerbaijani side, but did not support another one.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that NGOs of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian activists protested against the resolutions at the PACE winter session.

According to the resolution, based on the report prepared by Bosnian MP Milica Markovic, because of the lack of regular maintenance of the dam on the Sarsang Reservoir during more than 20 years, the situation "represents a danger for the entire border region".

The report notes that the dam is in poor condition, and thus it creates a humanitarian and environmental problem and can result in a "catastrophe with severe damage and casualties."

The PACE resolution calls for the immediate withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces to provide access to the facility for engineers and hydrologists to carry out the survey. The PACE also urges the Armenian authorities to stop using water resources "as an instrument of pressure."

The MPs did not support the draft resolution entitled "Increase of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan" and based on the report prepared by British MP Robert Walter.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.