Araz News: The effects environmental crisis in and surrounding Lake Urmia has are spreading to the wider region and causing concern for not only in northern Iran, which is inhabited mostly by ethnic Azerbaijani-Turks, but for the Republic of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, and the region’s Kurdish population.

The once vibrant lake, with its own unique fauna served as a tourist attraction and many people’s lives depended on the integrity of the lake. But now this once largest largest salt lake in the Middle East is all by 10% of its former size, and the Iranian government has yet to take any concrete steps to resolve this grave environmental catastrophe.

For more than a decade, environmentalists and Azerbaijani national activists had been sounding the alarm over the grave consequences that would emerge had Urmia Lake continue to dry. It seems though their worst fears have now become a horrific reality as the left over salt is actively being picked up by strong wings and spread throughout the region, causing property damage, killing crops, and causing health concerns for nearby inhabitants.

A recent video published by the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) shows the surreal salt storm that South Azerbaijanis witnessed near on 17th July, 2015.