ARMENIAN NUCLEAR POWER STATION MAIN THREAT IN SOUTH CAUCASUS, EXPERT

news.az
April 16 2010
Azerbaijan

Telman Zeynalov The rivers flowing to Azerbaijan from Armenia are
polluted with toxic wastes of the Armenian industrial and agricultural
facilities expert said.

The threat to security in the South Caucasus is posed by Armenian
Metsamor nuclear power station, the seismic activity in the region,
existence of Russian tectonic and climatic weapon, according to chief
of the National Center of Ecological Forecast Telman Zeynalov.

Speaking at the round table held at the Center of Strategic Studies
under the Azerbaijani president he said if the humankind is facing
the global challenges, the South Caucasus risks to become a victim
of the indicated regional threats.

‘The rivers flowing to Azerbaijan from Armenia are polluted with toxic
wastes of the Armenian industrial and agricultural facilities. Despite
numerous appeals of the Azerbaijani side, Armenians continue polluting
Araz and its flows, therefore, our country was obliged to install
mobile cleaning facilities in the settlements along the Kur river’,
he said.

Zeynalov said the Metsamor nuclear power station which uses morally
and technically outdated Russian equipment is the main ecological
threat to regional security. He drew attention to the still unsettled
implications of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

‘The South Caucasus region may fall victim of the same man-caused
and humanitarian disaster’, he said.

Director of the Center of Strategic Research Elkhan Nuriyev, general
secretary of International Alert Dan Smith, political scientists
Fikret Sadikhov, Vafa Guluzade and others spoke at the round table on
‘South Caucasus: global trends and challenges’.