Azerbaijanis Cut Off Water for Jrakaten Residents, Deprive Access to Pastures: Armenian Ombudsman

“This house belongs to Jrakaten resident Gevorg Avagyan's family, and above, on the mountain, there is an observation post of Azerbaijani armed forces. He has been deprived of his family’s income and continues to suffer significant damages due to Azerbaijani criminal activities.” This was stated by the Ombudsman of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, in a post on his Facebook page, accompanied by a photo.

“Specifically, during our visit to Jrakaten village in the Syunik region today, we learned that 5-6 years ago three families had to endure great difficulties to lay a 2 km long pipeline from a water source located on a nearby height to supply water to their homes, spending over 2 million drams. However, after the unjustified deployments of Azerbaijani armed forces, these families have had their water supply cut off. Now, people are forced to source water from other village springs, but this poses a significant problem as the water resources are insufficient for the residents.”

“Moreover, Gevorg Avagyan provides taxi services in Kapan with his car. This work is the source of his family’s income. However, due to the absolutely unfounded so-called border and customs control by Azerbaijan on the Kapan-Jrakaten road, he is unable to travel to his daily job. Performing the same work via a detour is not feasible, as the road is extremely difficult to traverse, making it utterly inconvenient considering the hours of operation, rendering his work unprofitable. The man has simply been deprived of the opportunity to support himself and his family.”

“This same family has also been deprived of access to their pastures, as Azerbaijani armed forces are present in those areas. The facts clearly confirm that the placements and further fortifications of Azerbaijani armed or other personnel near the Armenian villages and along the roads between communities are entirely devoid of legal justification. Their actions are of a criminal nature, as they only deepen the violations of people's rights, disrupt their normal life, and are carried out with intent. This way, they are throwing the population of Armenia, especially those in border areas, into even greater humanitarian challenges,” writes the Ombudsman.