Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 2085 (2016)

2085 notes that the current situation of the Sarsang Reservoir, located in the territory of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia, could possibly result in a new humanitarian crisis and requests the Armenian authorities "to cease using water resources as tools of political influence or an instrument of pressure".

This purpose-built dam and hydroelectric power station, with electric capacity of 50 megawatts, on the Tartar River were constructed in 1976–1977 when Heydar Aliyev was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan.

[4] Consequently, drinking and irrigation water was provided for roughly one hundred twenty thousand hectares of fertile land in six regions, including Tartar, Barda, Yevlakh, Aghjabadi, Aghdam and Goranboy.

[7] At the beginning of February 1993, the Baku radio broadcast that the Armenian forces had made significant gains into[clarification needed] the southern part of the reservoir.

[8] Towards the end of the month, the Armenians took complete control of the body of water, along with the power plant, and celebrated this operation as an "incomparable victory", blocking the Tartar–Kalbajar road for the Azerbaijanis.

On the other hand, lack of maintenance and related repair activities was one of the major factors that led to environmental, humanitarian and safety concerns for the people of the region.

Starting in May 2013, the Association for the Development of Civil Society in Azerbaijan (AVCIYA) launched a campaign called "Sarsang SOS: Prevention of Humanitarian Crisis" to draw attention to the environmentally harmful effects of these problems.

In their statement, the Co-Chairs expressed their hope that the parties would find a viable solution to the joint management issue of water resources for the welfare of the region.

[20] Finally, in 2015, Elkhan Suleymanov, the president of AVCIYA, parliamentarian, member of national delegation in the Assembly, proposed to PACE to prepare a draft resolution on the Sarsang Reservoir.

Under the resolution, the fulfillment of the first requirement could enable an on-site investigation with the participation of independent engineers and hydrologists, global management of the water basins in the area and international monitoring of the condition of the irrigation canals in the region, as well as the Sarsang and Madagiz dams.

[31] The following year, in the information released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, it was reported that during the occupation, Armenia constructed at least 37 additional hydroelectric plants without permission.