Dangerous effluents flow without any obstacles along the Araks River past Zangezur into the Mtkvari  River and then into the Caspian Sea. The country is well-known and the only one in the Caucasus that neglects both radiation safety in the Caucasus and the dumping of industrial toxic waste into the rivers of the Mtkvari basin. Yes, it is the Republic of Armenia. Iranian authorities and Armenian nationalists are trying by all means to prevent the opening of the Zangezur corridor and unblocking of transport communications, but they manage to "formalize the transit" of radiation and toxic wastes of the metallurgical industry, dangerous for human and animal health through almost the whole Caucasus.

The problem of pollution of waters in the Mtkvari  River basin is still one of the most painful both in the South Caucasus and on the adjacent territories of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iranian newspaper Payamema writes the following information:  "Iran and Armenia are jointly harassing southern Azerbaijanis Armenia is polluting the Araz (Araks) River with radioactive substances and heavy metals.

The source of pollution is the Armenian Metsamor nuclear power plant and heavy metallurgy in Armenia. Water pollution leads to an increase in cancer diseases among residents of the areas adjacent to the Araz (Araks) River in Southern Azerbaijan. The article notes that along with Armenia, Iran is also the biggest polluter of the Araz (Araks). The edition expresses its concern over the failure of the Islamic Republic's relevant authorities to investigate the radioactive pollution of the river. The Araz River originates in the eastern part of Turkey. The river flows along the borders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. It flows through the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan and discharges into the Kura, the largest river in the South Caucasus.

It should be noted that dangerous sewage flows into the Mtkvari and the Caspian Sea from Armenia not only through the Araks River. The Debeda River flowing through the historical Georgian territory of Lore, now part of Armenia, is practically a "sewage ditch". Contaminated water from the Debeda flows into Georgia, to Kvemo Kartli, where it has to be used to irrigate crops that feed much of Georgia, including the capital, Tbilisi. The polluted water then flows into the Mtkvari.

For the South Caucasus region, it's not just about opening up transport links, but also about environmental monitoring of the biggest sources of pollution in the Caspian basin. And the most important sources of pollution today are on the territory of the Republic of Armenia.

The Kura and Araks rivers originate on the territory of Turkey. In their upper reaches, these rivers are almost "examples of ecological purity". The Turkish government pays much attention to nature protection, and in recent years there were no claims to water quality in the Kura River flowing from Turkey (from Ardahan) to Georgia, to the Samtskhe-Javkheti region. The same applies to the Araks and its tributary Akhturyan rivers, which border Armenia and Turkey. These rivers are polluted exclusively from the Armenian side.

Having crossed the border past the territory of the Republic of Armenia and having taken in all the tributaries flowing through its territory, the water in the Araks River becomes simply dangerous for human health. Especially the Armenian copper and molybdenum industries are polluting the river. As we know, the export of copper and copper ore constitutes the main foreign trade of the Republic of Armenia and the production facilities located in Armenian territory "save" on treatment facilities.

As a matter of fact, these Armenian sewage overflowing with toxic and radioactive wastes and heavy metal compounds is used in Iran, South Azerbaijan. After all, apart from the Araks River, there are no other major sources of fresh water in this region. Except for the use of the rivers in the basin of Lake Urmia, the excessive use of the resources of these rivers, which have little water and dry up in the summer, has already led to the disastrous drying up of Lake Urmia, which has turned into a salt desert over its vast area.

It is strange that the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who are so defending the interests of Armenian nationalists in issues of "Artsakh" separatism and preventing the opening of the Zangezur corridor, close their eyes to the fact that Armenia is poisoning millions of their citizens, polluting the waters of the Araks River. Otherwise, do the authorities in Tehran consider the health of their Azerbaijani citizens "unimportant" compared to the interests of their "friends" in Yerevan?

 Varden Tsulukidze