Motion for a resolution | Doc. 13468 | 01 April 2014

Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water

Signatories: Mr Elkhan SULEYMANOV, Azerbaijan, EPP/CD ; Ms Sirkka-Liisa ANTTILA, Finland, ALDE ; Mr Pedro AZPIAZU, Spain, ALDE ; Mr Robert BIEDROŃ, Poland, SOC ; Mr Philippe BLANCHART, Belgium, SOC ; Mr Agustín CONDE, Spain, EPP/CD ; Ms Doris FIALA, Switzerland, ALDE ; Ms Sahiba GAFAROVA, Azerbaijan, EDG ; Mr Giuseppe GALATI, Italy, EPP/CD ; Ms Maria GIANNAKAKI, Greece, SOC ; Mr Zbigniew GIRZYŃSKI, Poland, NR ; Ms Ingebjørg GODSKESEN, Norway, EDG ; Mr Jarosław GÓRCZYŃSKI, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Mike HANCOCK, United Kingdom, ALDE ; Mr Olivier HENRY, Belgium, SOC ; Mr Ögmundur JÓNASSON, Iceland, UEL ; Mr Antti KAIKKONEN, Finland, ALDE ; Mr Mariusz KAMIŃSKI, Poland, NR ; Mr Epameinondas MARIAS, Greece, EDG ; Ms Pirkko MATTILA, Finland, NR ; Mr Rubén MORENO PALANQUES, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Gabino PUCHE, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Adam ROGACKI, Poland, NR ; Mr Rovshan RZAYEV, Azerbaijan, EPP/CD ; Mr Samad SEYIDOV, Azerbaijan, EDG ; Mr Konstantinos TZAVARAS, Greece, EPP/CD ; Mr Morten WOLD, Norway, EDG

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

Over 400 000 Azeri citizens, internally displaced persons, living in frontier regions of Azerbaijan (Aghjabady, Aghdam, Barda, Goranboy, Yevlakh and Tartar), are facing daily serious humanitarian, economic and environmental problems due to an acute lack of water.

For many years during spring and summertime, the irrigation network of these foothill regions benefited from water of Sarsang reservoir built on Tartar River. Nevertheless, since this reservoir is under occupation, the water is deliberately stopped in summer months when irrigation is very much needed for both daily domestic use as for farming, and is on the contrary opened in winter months thus unstoppably flooding houses and farms.

Consequently, small economic activities and farming, being the basis for survival of these internally displaced persons, are under very serious threat. Although the population forcefully tries to use sub-artesian wells in these territories, these wells soon become dry due to a decrease of water in lower layers of land. The biological structure of the land shatter and is exposed to irrecoverable changes. Due to the ongoing deprivation of water, biodiversity in the region strongly diminished, and today it is abundantly clear that desertification process started.

The Parliamentay Assembly considers the free access to water, regardless any frontiers, as a basic right of all citizens, and confirms that deliberate deprivation of water cannot be a weapon to harm innocent civilians.

The Assembly should investigate this matter, identify the reasons of the problem and adopt a resolution calling on international community for immediate and concrete measures to eliminate the current problem.