Friday, November 20 2015 14:31

 Not a single document on Nagorno-Karabakh can be considered unbiased if the rapporteur has not visited Nagorno-Karabakh personally, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian says in an interview with Aravot (Morning) newspaper, when commenting on the PACE report "The inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deprived of water" about the Sarsang Reservoir.  

"The question is - how has the rapporteur prepared the report if she has paid no visit to Karabakh?" says Nalbandian, assuring that Stepanakert has repeatedly stated readiness for joint use of the Sarsang Reservoir with Azerbaijan. "If the PACE rapporteur visited Nagorno-Karabakh, she would be able to discuss technologies of joint use of the reservoir water with the NKR authorities".          

It is noteworthy, the minister says, that the PACE rapporteur has visited Azerbaijan twice, whereas only several days ago the NKR authorities received a letter from the PACE Secretariat about the rapporteur's intention to visit Karabakh. Nalbandian noted that as early as on August 3 Armenia sent a letter to the PACE Secretariat, expressing willingness to host the rapporteur. 

Nalbandian also stresses that the specified report contains political wordings on the Karabakh problem, which run counter to the wordings of the OSCE Minsk Group. "This report has the same flavor as rapporteur Robert Walter's report "Escalation of Violence in Nagorno- Karabakh and Other Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan". As the lobbyist efforts of Azerbaijan fail in other international structures, Azerbaijan is trying to take it out of PACE," the minister says.       

To recall, Bosnian rapporteur on the issue of Sarsang Reservoir Milica Markovic and a member of the Armenian Delegation to PACE Vahan Babayan burst into heated arguments during discussion of the draft report on the Sarsang reservoir at the PACE Committee for Social Affairs.  Markovic, in particular, blamed Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh for creating obstacles to her visit to Armenia and the NKR for preparation of the report. She warned to prepare the report without visiting the countries if she gets no opportunity to do it by October 31. In response, the Armenian parliamentarian Vahan Babanyan said Armenia did not refuse to receive the rapporteur. "We just said that we will be able to organize the visit in November 2015," he said adding that PACE is not the very platform where one can speak with ultimatums. He said that Markovic has not visited the Sarsang reservoir just because of her unwillingness to apply for permission to the NKR authorities.  The Armenian delegation has repeatedly explained to her that it is a necessity, while Markovic refuses to apply to the NKR as it is an unrecognized country.  

Sarsang reservoir was built on Tartar river in 1976. The area of the reservoir is 14.2 km2 (5.5 sq mi). The overall volume of the reservoir is 575 million m The height of the dam at the reservoir is 125 m (410 ft).  The reservoir has the tallest dam out of all dams in Artsakh. Since opening, the reservoir has provided irrigation water for 100,000 ha (1,000,000 km) of agricultural lands in Tartar.  Sarsang Hydro Power Plant with capacity of 50 megawatt is based on the reservoir and operated by Artsakh HEK OJSC. It is the main source of electric  energy for Nagorno- Karabakh Republic (40-60%).  With its beautiful surrounding nature, Sarsang reservoir is expected to be one of the major tourism centers of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in the long run.