By Javid Shahverdiyev
Baku: NGO representatives and eco-activists have gathered at Khankendi road on the Shusha-Khankendi route to monitor what they see as the illegal activities of Armenians in the territories of Azerbaijan. They are protesting against the conduct of Russian peacekeepers who are temporarily stationed here after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement.
Shared from the spot that more than 500 activists are participating in the protests, which have been going on for almost 4 days. Tents were set up and bonfires were lit. The protesters blocked the road to Khankendi and demanded that the commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces temporarily stationed in the Karabakh economic region, Major General Andrey Volkov, come to the area.
The protests will not stop until Andrey Volkov, the commander of Russian armed forces supporting Armenian separatism under the name of “Peacemaker”, does not listen to the protest. “Kharibulbul” hotel in Shusha is providing food and water to the participants of the protest. Armenian occupiers tried to use this protest for their own interests. However, the Azerbaijani media exposed their lies. Armenia and its patrons are already alarmed by this action of the Azerbaijanis.
Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan – Head of the Department of Foreign Policy Affairs of the Presidential Administration, Hikmet Hajiyev informed the heads of diplomatic missions about the latest situation on the Shusha-Khankendi road. According to H. Hajiyev, during the years of occupation, Armenia destroyed cultural monuments on the territory of Azerbaijan, abused the resources of the country, and severely damaged the environment. H. Hajiyev brought to the attention of foreign diplomats that the Azerbaijani side has received information about the increase in cases of harmful exploitation and looting of natural resources in the “Qizilbulag” copper-gold mine, and the detection of its environmental consequences. He noted that the road to Lachin was blocked not by Azerbaijani protesters, but by the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation.
It should be recalled that as a result of discussions held with the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent on December 3 and 7, 2022, a team consisting of experts from the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the State Service for Real Estate Affairs under the Ministry of Economy and “AzerGold” the Joint Stock Company was formed. The joint team will visit In the Azerbaijani region where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is temporarily stationed. The team was supposed to conduct preliminary monitoring regarding the illegal exploitation of mineral deposits and the resulting ecological and other consequences. However, due to the inactivity and non-cooperation of the Russian peacekeepers, the monitoring could not take place.
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Javid Shahverdiyev is Director of Centre for the Development of Democratic Reforms in Azerbaijan