In the very South of Armenia, near the border with Iran, there is a little village called Lichk with around 150 inhabitants. The village, situated high in the mountains and has pristine nature and good conditions for agriculture, especially for ranching and apiculture and eco tourism, is endangered. The “Tatstoun” LLC got licenses from the Ministry of Energy of Armenia and is going to exploit an open copper mine in the village.
Central street of the village
Don’t [touch and] harm if you don’t know”, “If there is health there is life”, “The more you move the longer you live”
The view to Lichk
Summer is the most active time in the village.
The environmentalists and active citizens, who are worried of this fact are raising the issue of the potential consequences, which the region and the people living there could suffer.
“The mine is going to be a little higher from the place where the reservoirs of the drinking water of Meghri region are (the Lichk is included in this region). As a result, the heavy metals which are easily diluted in environments of low acidity and the salts will be solved into the water. This means we are losing the water system”- says Hakob Sanasaryan, the head of Green Union of Armenia, adding, “There is a danger of losing and poisoning the underground waters too, because during the explosions, the heavy metals are entering the cracks of the springs, and go down to the deeper places, where the water already becomes not the substance we know. We are losing drinking waters”
The head of the village, Hovhannes Mirzoyan, says that the exploitation of the mine will create new job places for the poor settlement, though at the same time announced that he was the only one to rise against its opening when there was an open public discussion with the governor of Syunik province, Surik Khachatryan.
A doctor, a board member of Meghri’s women resource center, Nvard Khachatryan, who also has an experience of working as a medical professional in a mining company, mentions, that though there are no exact numbers, the problems with joints and autoimmune diseases are widespread among the denizens of Meghri.
Meghri city
Meghri city
Nvard Khachatryan, doctor: ❝ According to the mentality of Armenia and Armenians, in small cities people don’t want everyone to know about their health issues, maybe they don’t trust here, and also there are more specialized medical centres in Yerevan, and they prefer to go there. And very often, when coming back they keep all the documentation at home, and the health problem statistic stays lower than could be here❞
It is important to mention, that due to the several horizontal climate zones, a wide variety of fruits successfully grow here, which don’t usually grow in other parts of Armenia: kiwi, pomegranate, persimmon, fig, arachis, olives and etc.
Last year, the Panarmenian Environmental Front supplied 42 beehives to the permanent inhabitants of Lichk to develop alternative economic resources in the village.
There are more than 4 open metal mines in Meghri right now, though currently only one. the “ Agarak Copper-Molybdenum Mine Complex” is being exploited. The latter, according to the mother company Geoproming processes 3.5 mt of ore per annum and is included in the list of big tax prayers of Armenia.
It is interesting that the Government of Armenia has given licenses for the exploitation of another 16 mines in this small region with only 664 km² area, and approximately 13 000 population. The head of the Green Union, Hakob Sanasaryan announces, that if all these mines are exploited, Meghri city and all its villages will simply stop existing.
According to him, the government has adopted laws, which allows the entrepreneurs not to pay taxes for mining tailings. Moreover, they make changes in the laws in a way, that it defends the interest of some families of high rank officials.
This 17th century church is the last witness of the village, which was where the current mine is.The river near “Agarak Copper-Molybdenum Mine Complex”“Lichkvaz-Tey” mine-currently inactive.Recently opened, but currently not active open polymetallic mine in Tashtun village, only 1 km far from Lichk.Inside the “Agarak Copper-Molybdenum Mine Complex“Agarak Copper-Molybdenum Mine Complex”-yet the only active mine“Agarak Copper-Molybdenum Mine Complex”-yet the only active mine“Agarak Copper-Molybdenum Mine Complex”-yet the only active mine
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has stated that all OSCE’s Minsk Group structures ‘are subject to dissolution’ after being asked to comment on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s proposal to dissolve it.
During Wednesday’s press briefing, Zakharova also suggested that the ‘optimal path’ for such a decision would be a joint proposal by Armenia and Azerbaijan to disband it.
Zakharova claimed the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs’ mandate became irrelevant after Armenia recognised
On Monday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan proposed a live debate with three former Armenian Presidents to discuss the decades-long negotiation process with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. All three refused Pashinyan’s invitation.
Pashinyan invited the former presidents — Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan, and Serzh Sargsyan — claiming on Facebook that since the 1994 Russian-mediated ceasefire between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Nagorno-Karabakh, the negotiation process was always ab
