OSCE ECOLOGICAL MONITORING POSTPONED AT REQUEST OF NKR
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 4 2006
STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. "We regret that the OSCE has
not created the necessary conditions for the participation of NKR
representatives in the preparation of OSCE mission for assessment of
the ecological situation in the areas afflicted by fires. But it does
not prevent Karabakh experts from participating in this monitoring,
especially as the implementation of the mission has been postponed
for a day based on the necessity of NKR representatives’ joining the
mission." The NKR Foreign Minister Georgy Petrossian stated this in
response to a question of the Regnum news agency about actions of
official Stepanakert in connection with the visit of a OSCE expert
group from Baku to the sites of fire.
G. Petrosian said that the NKR MFA sent a note to the OSCE, in which
the position of the NKR leadership on the issue of NKR experts’
participation in the monitoring is epressed clearly. "Part of
territories where assessment is to be made is under the jurisdiction
of the NKR, which is already a serious ground for our participation in
the mission implemented on the opposite side," the minister underlined.
According to the NKR MFA, the NKR authorities were informed that an
alarming ecological situation has formed in the Karabakh territories
occupied by Azerbaijan: a large-scale deforestation is going on in
the Shaumian region, and the ecological balance of the western part
of the Martuni region has been upset, with serious damage being done
to the soil and microflora.
By late October 4, it was only known that the OSCE expert group "went
to the territories where fires occured," which the Trend news agency
reported citing the Azerbaijani MFA.