President: Armenia organized environmental terror against Azerbaijan

Another important issue is the implementation of land reclamation measures on liberated lands, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said as he received in a video format Zaur Mikayilov due to his appointment as Chairman of Azerbaijan Melioration and Water Management Open Joint Stock Company, Report informs, citing AzerTag.

"We have large water resources in the liberated lands and our water sources generate from there. We have been deprived of these opportunities for many years – for almost 30 years. Armenia pursued a policy of aggression against Azerbaijan in this area too," the president said.

"Deforestation, destruction of reserves – 54,000 hectares of forest were felled, destroyed, looted and stolen by Armenians, and this is a serious crime. All the damage is now being calculated, including this damage. They deprived us of water. The Sarsang reservoir and the Sugovushan reservoir were under their control. These two reservoirs were built by great leader Heydar Aliyev in the 1970s. On his initiative, these reservoirs were built to carry out irrigation work in Aghdam, Tartar, Goranboy, Barda and other districts. The main purpose and function of the Sarsang reservoir was to supply water to these and other districts. At that time, about 100,000 hectares of land were supplied with water from this source and from Sugovushan. It is a smaller reservoir. More than 500 million cubic meters of water was stored in the Sarsang reservoir. But the Armenians cut off our water, deliberately let released it in winter to cause environmental damage and cut off the water in the spring and summer, so we were left without water. We prepared a special action plan for the irrigation of that area, and on my instructions hundreds of artesian wells were drilled there. However, when we liberated the Sugovushan settlement, we also took control of the Sugovushan reservoir. After Sugovushan came under our control, there was an opportunity to significantly improve water supply of Aghdam, Tartar, Barda, Goranboy and other districts. However, the canals leading to these districts have not been used for many years. It is necessary to analyze what their condition is now and if there is a need for repair. This work should be examined so that we can make water available to our people without wasting time," the head of state said.