Armenia , which has no coal , natural gas or oil of its own and scant wind and water resources , had long been suffering from severe energy shortages and now blockaded by neighbouring Turkey and Azerbaijan , from whom it used to import nearly all its fuel , was forced to announce that it would restart the second of two VVER reactors in the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant . Armenian Environmental Committee Chairman Samuel Shahinian explained the decision ; " Our people are so cold we can not explain anything to them , they just want to be warm . " The reactors , which had been commissioned by the Soviet authorities in 1979 and had long been considered dangerously out-of-date , were shut down in 1988 over safety concerns following the nearby Spitak earthquake . The announcement prompted uproar in Turkey whose border is just 17 km from Metsamor . " There are certain risks " , confirmed Armenian Deputy Speaker Ara Sahakian , " but we should realise and everyone should realise we have no other choice . " Metsamor unit-2 was recommissioned in 1995 after an estimated $ 50m had been spent on safety improvements but this did little to alleviate safety concerns in Turkey and the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency ( TAEK ) along with the Turkish Environment and Forestry Ministry , Kafkas University and various institutes and foundations formed a tight infrastructure of control in the region across the border from the reactor and set up the RESAI early warning system to take constant measurements of airborne gamma radiation levels and sample analyses of local soil , plant , and food to give advance warning when levels rise above threshold limits . TAEK Deputy Chairman Dr. Erdener Birol confirms , " As the radiation level increases , Ankara is notified about it immediately . " Further safety concerns arose when it was revealed that the ongoing blockade of the country by its neighbours Turkey and Azerbaijan meant that nuclear fuel for the plant was flown onboard Antonov and Tupolev airplanes from Russia into Yerevan Airport in secret shipments which Alexis Louber , Head of the EU delegation in Yerevan , likened to " flying around a potential nuclear bomb . " On June 9 , 2000 , in a full-page statement in '' The New York Times '' , 126 scholars , including Nobel Prize-winner Elie Wiesel , historian Yehuda Bauer , and sociologist Irving Horowitz , signed a document " affirming that the World War I Armenian Genocide is an incontestable historical fact and accordingly urge the governments of Western democracies to likewise recognize it as such . " According to Stephen Kinzer the reshaping of the national consciousness in the first years of the new century " allowed the Turks to open their minds to alternative views of the 1915 tragedy , " and , " more than a dozen books touching on this subject were published in Turkey , bearing titles like '' Armenians in Our Neighbourhood '' and '' The Armenian Taboo '' . " Shortly after Armenia became a member of the Council of Europe in 2001 authorities in Yerevan stated that they expected EU assistance in the construction of a gas pipeline linking Armenia to neighbouring Iran and in the lifting of Turkish and Azerbaijani blockade , but Armenian Energy Ministry Spokeswoman Zhasmena Ghevondian told Radio Liberty that the agreement with the IAEA and the EU that Metsamor unit-2 would only be in operation until the end of 2004 was " no longer realistic . " Armenian Deputy Energy Minister Areg Galstyan indicated that the plant , which provides 40 per cent of Armenia 's energy and sells excess power to neighbouring Georgia , should remain running until 2016 and possibly 2031 as , " It was a big mistake to shut the plant in 1988 ; it created an energy crisis and the people and the economy suffered . It is impossible for the government to cause the same problem again by closing the plant . " Professor Hayrettin Kilic of Ferrara University speaking at a conference jointly organised by the Kars City Council and Kafkas University responded that , " The risk is tremendous . Metsamor nuclear power plant is not a problem of Kars , Ağrı , Igdir , Yerevan and Nakhichevan but a problem of Turkey , Georgia and all Armenia . This is a regional problem . " Igdir Mayor Nurettin Aras stated , " We are in danger of a disaster . We will apply for the closing down of the nuclear plant , " and Kars Mayor Naif Alibeyoglu confirmed that , " We are doing everything to close this plant , but not everything is in our power . It is essential that state authorities attend to this matter closely , " and , " The Turkish government should start an initiative for the closure of the plant . Both Turkish and Armenian people should be aware of danger . " Galstyan dismissed safety concerns stating that it is more important to Armenians " to keep the electricity on , " whilst Jeremy Page , writing in '' The Times '' pointed out that , " The mostly Christian nation is also reluctant to rely on imported energy because of its history of hostility with its Islamic neighbours . " A final agreement had been achieved with the EU and other involved international organisations to prolong the exploitation of the plant at least until 2016
Spitak earthquake
1988 Armenian earthquake
Armenia–Turkey relations