The number one problem in Gegharkunik province of Armenia is neither unemployment nor migration, but ecology.

Founder of Martuni Women's Community Council (MWCC) NGO, Anahit Gevorgyan, who is also the head of the Hands Off Sevan NGO, told the aforementioned at the campaign rally of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) on Thursday.

The group activists attended the rally in order to voice their concern about the fate of Lake Sevan and the region. According to them, Lake Sevan is unlawfully exploited, this having catastrophic impact on the ecology of the entire region.

Gevorgyan stated that the acting legislation doesn’t allow building HPPs on the rivers flowing into Sevan. However, despite this, there are several HPPs on all the four rivers flowing into the lake. Large number of fish and small animals fall into the HPP turbines, there remaining no frogs in Martuni river. Nevertheless, despite the number of the HPPs, none of the residents of the region can say that the electricity price has even slightly dropped for them. 

In her words, lots of illegal facilities have been built on Sevan beaches, many of them belonging to oligarchs, who do their best for the water level of Sevan not to rise so as their facilities are not flooded. For this purpose, they either close Arpa-Sevan channel or release lots of water. Many of the beaches have turned into fish farms, whose owners pollute the water with nitrogen, phosphorus and different medical drugs. “Sevan is one of the few freshwater lakes in the world, and it shouldn’t be polluted and poisoned for the personal benefit of several people,” she said.  

Anahit Gevorgyan considers the exploitation of Sotk and Amulsar mines another serious issue, this, according to her, threatening the entire region and all of its residents.

The activists of Hands Off Sevan NGO are going to attend the campaign rallies of all the parties and alliances running for seats in the National Assembly to voice their position. They intend to organize a number of protests and flashmobs demanding to demount all the unlawful HPPs and stop the exploitation of mines.