Armenian President Armen Sarkissian touched upon the issue of exploitation of Amulsar mine, describing it as “a painful issue” at the third forum titled “Democracy, Security and Foreign Policy” in the “Armenian Institute for International and Security Affairs”. Armen Sarkissian first emphasized that the water preservation is very important for Armenia, whereas the waters of the Ararat valley are wasted for fish farming.
“Eduardo Eurnekian told me that he has a wineyard of 400 hectares but does not increase the production volumes because of water loss… a school and a church have been built in Echmiadzin by my investment, but the walls are cracked, as the balance of the deep wells has been changed”, said Armen Sarkissian.
Referring to the Amulsar issue the President noted: “Amulsar is in a sensitive area, and if the water is polluted, we will face serious problems. We cannot allow mining industry to pollute water, the most important natural resource”.
As for his possible connections with the “Lydian” company, exploiting the Amulsar mine, Armen Sarkissian noticed that the media had written as if he was the director of the company, which was misinformation.
“I have been a member of an independent board of directors, but my family and I have had no profit of even a penny. It is defined by law. Then I got acquainted with mine exploitation documents and left the board of directors. Of course, based on ethics, I cannot publish what I have written about these documents. I had no connection with “Lydian”, Armen Sarkissian summed up.
Luiza SUKIASYAN
