Basitchay reserve's restoration kicks off in liberated Zangilan

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijan has begun the restoration of the Basitchay reserve in its liberated Zangilan region,  the head of the Ecology Ministry's Biodiversity Protection Service, Firudin Aliyev, has said.

Aliyev emphasized that inventory work was carried out on the reserve's territory under the presidential order.

"Work to restore wildlife sanctuaries and nature reserves in the liberated territories will be carried out as far as possible," he added.

President Ilham Aliyev visited the Basitchay State Nature Reserve in Zangilan region in February 2021, following the liberation of Azerbaijani territories from Armenian occupation during the 44-day war in 2020.

Aliyev stressed that during the three-decade occupation, Armenian invaders committed ecological terror in the Basitchay reserve and other occupied lands. He noted that the Armenians had destroyed nearly half of the reserve's forest area and had burned the trees' roots and firewood.

Aliyev created a reserve by planting plane trees and releasing fish into the Basitchay River. He emphasized that the restoration of the Basitchay Nature Reserve has begun and that Azerbaijan will complete the restoration.

He recalled that Armenia had blocked the rivers, which left other Azerbaijani regions waterless and that Armenia had been committing environmental terror against Azerbaijan over the past 30 years.

Aliyev signed a decree on the restoration of the Basitchay State Reserve in Zangilan, which is part of the Eastern Zangazur economic region, on October 20, 2021.

The decree seeks to improve the environment and ensure the sustainable use of natural resources on liberated territories, as well as to preserve a network of specially protected natural areas, rare natural complexes, and objects in their natural state.

The reserve is 15 kilometers long and 150-200 meters wide and is bordered by simple arid forests. It is located in Zangilan region along the Basitchay River in the south-eastern part of the Lesser Caucasus.