DISASTER WHICH BENEFITED ALLEGED HISTORICAL MONUMENTS
Zarine Mayilian
Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
05 July 2006
Azerbaijan is said to make allegations that fires in border areas
are instigated by Armenians to destroy alleged historical monuments
of the neighbouring countries. We are not surprised, of course,
at the allegations of the Azerbaijani mass media that the Armenians
burn non-Armenian historical facts. Local fires during the season of
harvest, which may have different causes, became a cornerstone for
the information in the Azerbaijani media that Armenians burn trees,
houses, etc. near the Karabakh-Azerbaijani border. Moreover, a group
of Azerbaijani members of parliament visited the border area. They
said they could not take pictures but they saw Armenians set on
fire houses of Azerbaijanis. We were told at the NKR Ministry of
Emergencies that a Task Force on Fires was set up, which is now working
in the region of Askeran. There are no facts of arson instigated
by Karabakh, said MP Rudik Martirossian, chair of the Committee of
Defense and Security. Evidence shows that fire began from shooting
by the Azerbaijani side. The minister of industrial infrastructures
and territorial management Armo Tsatrian said there are fires, which
started from fires that came from the Azerbaijani side. The Armenian
side grows wheat in the border area. The fires caused great damage
to the owners of these crops.
Over 165 ha of wheat burnt. Rudik Martirossian says the Fire Department
keeps the areas under crop under surveillance to organize the harvest
normally.
The reserve fund of the government allocated funds for the Fire
Department to prevent arable crops from burning. "We keep the
situation under control, we know there are facts of fires, and the
fire department prevents fires. Simply Azerbaijanis distort the
facts and this is another political ruse. It is nonsense," said
Rudik Martirossian. By the way, several years ago the NKR Ministry
of Foreign Affairs proposed setting up an OSCE Minsk Group-mediated
Karabakh-Azerbaijani format to settle humanitarian problems. The
Azerbaijani side remained indifferent.