GTB Steel that operates the U.S. affiliated company targeted by Azerbaijan raised the American and Armenian flags at the construction site on June 20
Azerbaijani forces on Tuesday continued to fire at a construction site operated by an American-affiliated company in Yeraskh in Armenia’s Ararat Province. The site was targeted by Azerbaijan last week and as result of its attack two Indian nationals employed by the company were injured.
The ongoing attacks, however, will not deter the project, company officials said when they raised the U.S. and Armenian flags at the construction site during a ceremony on Tuesday.
Azerbaijani forces opened fire at the company’s facilities at 4:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, continuing their almost week-long attack on the site.
Official Baku has claimed that the company, GTB Steel, which is building a steel mill in Yeraskh, is violating environmental standards and once operational, it will impact Azerbaijanis living in Nakhichevan.
GTB officials held a ceremony on Tuesday and raised the American and Armenian flags at the construction site.
GTB officials said that by raising the flags it is unequivocally expressing that despite the Azerbaijani cross-border gunfire and provocations they will continue the construction as planned.
The company’s executive Tiran Hakobyan told reporters after the flag raising ceremony that he and his colleagues realize that the flags are not a guarantee that the Azerbaijani military would stop the shooting.
“This is the stipulation of the decision of our Board of Directors which was made after long discussions. By [raising the flags] we record that we will not leave this place and we will continue to build the plant,” Hakobyan said, reported Armenpress.
He added that only the government of Armenia has the authority to allow or ban the construction, and that it has granted permission. GTB Steel has all the required documentation for the construction, Hakobyan stressed.