Eco-activists, employees of the Azerbaijani socio-ecological center "EcoSphere", which is engaged in educating young people and children's youth audiences in the field of ecology, Zhalya Ismailova and Suleyman Tabriz, told the Vestnik Kavkaza correspondent Daria Melekhova about the action and that the Armenian reports of a blockade and a humanitarian catastrophe have nothing to do with reality.
Darya Melekhova, as part of an international media delegation, visited Shusha and the Lachin road yesterday, where an uninterrupted protest action of Azerbaijani environmental activists is taking place.
The peaceful environmental protest has been underway for 33 days, and the activists do not intend to stop it. They said that the Armenian media have been spreading fake news about the alleged "blockade" of Khankendi from the very first day of the action.
“Armenian media, the opposite side has tried to create an atmosphere of a humanitarian catastrophe and spread fake news that the road was closed, that our city of Khankendi was under blockade and the civilian population was running out of food. But thanks to social networks, it was proved that this is actually a lie,” said Zhalya Ismailova, who has been participating in the action since its beginning on December 12.
“From the very first day, ambulances and humanitarian aid vehicles have passed here, that is, the reports about the blockade do not correspond to reality,” she stressed.
“You see, our road is not closed, our roads are open for humanitarian aid vehicles, vehicles of the peacekeepers, ambulances also pass here, so there is no humanitarian blockade here. This is a peaceful environmental action,” Suleiman Tabriz said. During the presence of an international media delegation, about ten cars passed freely along the Lachin road.
Environmental activists told Vestnik Kavkaza that during the action they managed to stop the illegal exploitation of mines, but the main goal is still ahead. “We have shown the resilience of our people, we are unshakable and will stand until the end until our demands are met. From the beginning of the action, exploitation at Kyzylbulag gold and Demirli copper-molybdenum mines stopped. Nothing is being exported now, nothing is being exploited,” the representative of the NGO said.
“The operation of those mines has been suspended, but this is not our main goal, our goal is to allow Azerbaijani monitoring groups, environmentalists to enter the site to analyze and check the ecological state of the region, to assess the damage,” the eco-volunteer added.
His colleague agreed with him. “Our demand has been the same from the very first day, we want our monitoring mission to be allowed there. We want the Armenian population of Khankendi to understand that the environmental situation is not only a local problem, it concerns the whole world, the entire Caucasus region,” she noted.
The Lachin road is a peaceful road, environmental activists demand that it not be used for arms smuggling. Since the beginning of the protests, only ambulances and humanitarian aid cars have been passing along the road, EcoSphere employees added. This can also be considered an achievement of the rally participants.
