Azerbaijan's fuss over fires is merely propagandistic

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Azerbaijani side has made it a rule to accuse the Karabakhi side of committing arsons in the near-border territories, as a result of which the fires allegedly spread over to the Azerbaijani side.



"Actually, everything is to the contrary. One of the main reasons of early fires is the burning of the harvest remains by Azeri farmers. On the Azerbaijani side the harvest ripens two weeks earlier than in the NKR, which is conditioned by the climatic zone. In dry and hot weather the anabatic wind prevailing in our zone quickly spreads the fire from the Azerbaijani territory to the territory of the NKR. It is no coincidence that every year the fires start when the harvest of the grain crops in Azerbaijan's flat regions bordering the NKR is over," said NKR Minister of Agriculture Armo Tsaturian, the NKR permanent representative office told PanARMENIAN.Net



"The fuss made by the Azerbaijani side over the fires is merely propagandistic. If Azerbaijan were really anxious about the early fires, it wouldn't have rejected the recommendations worked out as a result of the visit to the region of the OSCE-led Environmental Assessment Mission to fire-affected territories in 2006. The mission refuted all the accusations of the Azerbaijani side and gave some recommendations on prevention of fires and joint struggle against them. However, neither of them was implemented through Azerbaijan's fault. Moreover, official Baku even refused to participate in the meeting to discuss the results of the mission and the report prepared by it. Such a stance of the official Baku convincingly demonstrates Azerbaijan's real motives in initiating the discussion of fires in political organizations," he said.