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| Mehdi Neimi |
Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported that a budget of 15 trillion tomans has been allocated for the projects aimed at reviving Lake Urmia. However, some local politicians and members of parliament in Iranian Azerbaijan claim that it is unclear how this budget for Lake Urmia has been spent.
In an interview with Voice of America, national activist and economist Mehdi Neimi stated that in the Islamic Republic of Iran, it is possible for budgets allocated for certain projects to be spent on other activities.
“In Iran, it is almost impossible to rely on figures and statistics; they cannot be trusted. Errors in budget-related matters have been repeated so many times that it no longer surprises people. Right now, the numbers given by Iran’s central bank for certain periods differ from the figures provided by the statistics center for the same periods. When you ask, they say their definitions are different,” he explained.
Neimi did not rule out the possibility that the official financial allocations for Lake Urmia could be spent on other activities.
“For example, they could take the money allocated for Lake Urmia and spend it in Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan. In cases where there is a need to move money out of the system via official documents, they can allocate the budget for other projects. Unfortunately, this is a practice widely carried out within Iran’s economic system,” he said.
Mehdi Neimi pointed out that over the past decade, the projects announced for the revival of Lake Urmia have largely been political promises.
He stated, “Just like the issue of mother tongue education was raised in South Azerbaijan, some people started to voice it in order to gain votes. They realized that in the Turkish community's demands, alongside mother tongue education, the issue of Lake Urmia was also present. Therefore, they wanted to take a share from that as well. They use these issues to gain votes, but it brings no benefit to the people. President Rouhani [during his election campaign] also took advantage of these issues.”
Recently, environmental activists in Iranian Azerbaijan have launched campaigns on social media to once again draw the attention of the international community and Iranian officials to the ecological situation of Lake Urmia. Environmental activists and national cultural activists have organized protests in several cities of Iranian Azerbaijan, objecting to the insufficient measures taken to prevent the lake’s desiccation. Some national activists state that the “Lake Urmia Revival Center,” established during former President Hassan Rouhani’s term, was not effective and did not yield results.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Mehdi Nəimi: Urmiyə gölünü canlandırma vədi də ana dilində təhsil vədi kimi səs toplamaq üçün idi