State Ignores Complaints and Needs of Forty Livestock Farms

Baku / 12.03.19 / Turan: The Western Regional Branch of the Helsinki Civil Assembly of Azerbaijan is suing the executive power of the Gakh region and LLC Agroinkishaf-2017, accusing them of violating the law, a criminal offense in seizing land leased by farmers and destroying the fertile layer.

The first meeting in the Sheki Regional Economic Court began on January 30, 2019, and the trial continues, said Aslan Veliyev, a member of the Western Branch of the HCA, told Turan.

In an interview with Turan, Veliyev explained that 40 farms of the Gakh district had rented 65,000 hectares of land for grazing from the local executive authorities for many years. In this area, during the cold season, 150 thousand sheep were grazed, giving annually a breed of 150 thousand lambs that were supplied to the market. Te farmers paid taxes. However, two years ago, the executive power of the Gakh district unilaterally terminated the contractual relations with farmers and transferred this territory to the company LLC Agroinkishaf-2017 for growing crops for a period of 15 years.

Left without land for grazing animals, the farms went bankrupt, and the villagers were left without work, which caused discontent among the inhabitants of the region. The farmers sent complaints with the signature of 275 people to the Cabinet of Ministers, the Executive Power and the police of the local regions (Zagatala and Gakh), the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the President and Vice President of Azerbaijan, the State Land Committee and other organizations. But there are no answers or the complainants receive incomprehensible formal replies.

The Ministry of Environment has suggested that the farmers complain to SOCAR, the State Property Committee reported that the users violated the clauses of the contract and plowed up twice the territory, which gives grounds for a criminal case. The matter does not progress beyond these formal replies, Veliyev added.

He believes that behind the company Agroinkishaf-2017 are forces associated with the government, against which local and central authorities and the judiciary are powerless.

Aslan Veliyev is also worried about the threat to the Ilisu State Reserve, whose protected area (the Ajinohur-Sarija area in the Alazan-Haftaran Valley) is being barbarously destroyed by the LLC.

So, because of deep plowing, a thin (one centimeter) layer of fertile humus that has been forming for decades is destroyed. More than 70 gazelles, brought to the region by environmentalists for settlement and reproduction, are leaving the protected zone. -0-