MFA_Report_on_the_occupied_territories_March_2016_1

thus profit from and support the occupation. Such funding is channelled through the branches
of Armenian banks operating in the occupied territories and conducting international financial
transactions via intermediary banks in Russia, several European countries and elsewhere.
Many facilities in the occupied territories process their materials at least partially in Armenia.
Some of the raw materials for processing are brought in from Armenia or from elsewhere.
Many Armenian companies source their raw materials from the occupied territories. A number
of foreign retailers, including in Russia, the United States and some European countries, in
particular in France, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, The
Netherlands, as well as in Australia and UAE, have supply contracts with Armenian companies
or their wholly owned subsidiaries in the occupied territories, thus becoming complicit with
Armenia’s occupation of the territories, expansion of illegal settlements and the colonization of
the territory of Azerbaijan and its resources.
Armenia is supporting and encouraging production and export of the products illegally produced
in the occupied territories. Armenia’s high-ranking officials, including President Serzh Sargsyan,
Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan and other ministers, routinely visit the occupied territories
and inspect production facilities there. The State organs of Armenia provide logistical support to
Armenian and foreign enterprises operating in the occupied territories to export their products
to international markets and promote ties with foreign businesses and organize trips of foreign
companies to the occupied territories to explore investment opportunities there.
To camouflage the illegal nature of settlement produce, Armenian agricultural and liquors export
companies, including “Stepanakert Brandy Factory” and “Artsakh Fruit CJSC”, routinely mislabel
the products wholly or partially produced or packed in the occupied territories as originating
from Armenia, thus misleading governments, international retailers and consumers.
The agricultural lands in the occupied territories along the Araz River, including in Zangilan and
Jabrayil districts, have been illegally appropriated and extensively exploited by Armenia, its
companies and the subordinate separatist regime due to their economic potential, climate, water
and other resources. Agricultural land used for sowing in these districts is expanding annually.
Harvested crops are transported to Armenia, in particular to the Syunik district for distribution
by retailers.
Exploitation of agricultural resources is pursued not only for economic, but also demographic
reasons. In fact, illegal settlements in the occupied territories rely primarily on agriculture
development, and the existence of many settlements is dependent on access to arable lands
and water resources. This is why Armenia and its diaspora organizations encourage the transfer
of Armenian settlers into the arable lands in the Araz River Valley, in particular the occupied
Zangilan and Jabrayil districts, expecting that land cultivation, including crops and other
vegetable growing and agricultural exports, will generate sufficient revenue for the settlers to
stay and expand their communities. Settlement of Syrian Armenians in the occupied territories
is also largely driven by their experience in agriculture development in their home country that
Armenia hopes will be a significant boost to the colonization of those territories.
Given the highly subsidized character of agriculture in the occupied territories, intensive
agricultural production there is heavily dependent on financial assistance and the development of
water, power and transport infrastructure. This makes access to and control of water resources,
in particular those in the occupied Kalbajar, Lachyn, Zangilan and Jabrayil districts, an important
factor in the colonial enterprise of Armenia. In order to service the settlements and farming, as
well as to maximize the exploitation of water resources in the occupied territories, a number of
actions were taken, including capture and diversion of waters of the rivers and their headwaters
for the settlements’ use in the Araz Valley and elsewhere, constructing new or using existing
artesian wells, pump-stations and irrigation canals that fell into disuse after the Azerbaijani
population was forced to abandon their places of residence. By its involvement in rehabilitation
and construction of the irrigation system in those territories, Armenia’s ArmWaterProject
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