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Karabakh: Bid To Boost Population

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  • Karabakh: Bid To Boost Population

    KARABAKH: BID TO BOOST POPULATION
    By Lusine Musaelian

    Institute for War and Peace Reporting
    April 9 2008
    UK

    Government in Nagorny Karabakh gives incentives to encourage couples
    to get married and have children.

    After three years of living together, a young Karabakh couple -
    who prefer not to be named - are thinking about legalising their union.

    "We've decided to register our relationship in order to receive cash
    assistance from the government," said the husband-to-be.

    >From January 1 this year, the government of the unrecognised republic
    of Nagorny Karabakh has handed out a one-off allowance worth 300,000
    drams (around 1,000 US dollars) to newlywed couples.

    The hope in Karabakh is that the benefit will encourage marriage and
    boost the population of the territory.

    In 2008, the republic's budget is providing 450 million drams (1.5
    million dollars) to support about 1,500 new families. This followed
    a pre-election pledge by Bako Saakian in last summer's presidential
    contest to help young families with a variety of economic measures.

    The new allowance has already prompted many couples to tie the knot.

    In the first three months of this year, Stepanakert's registry offices
    recorded 714 marriages - a record high number compared to the same
    period in previous years.

    Ararat and Gayane Hairapetians initially planned to get married last
    year, but they postponed their wedding till 2008 in order to receive
    the allowance.

    "We knew that we would get the sum if we got married in 2008 and
    decided to wait for several months," said the new husband. His wife
    said they would use the money to buy all kinds of household equipment.

    "Every day we receive 20 to 25 applications and register the same
    number of marriages," said Ruzanna Danielian, who is head of one of
    Stepanakert's marriage registry offices.

    The official population of Nagorny Karabakh in 2006 was recorded as
    137,700. Some international observers dispute the figures, saying
    that they are artificially inflated. Another statistic revealed
    by recent events is that in last July's presidential election, the
    central electoral commission said that were 92,114 voters, of whom
    71,286 had cast a legal ballot

    What no one disputes is that the war of 1991-4 upset the demographic
    balance amongst Karabakh Armenians. By official estimates, 3,150
    Karabakh Armenians died in the conflict.

    In addition, according to information from Karabakh's statistics
    service, 1,310 people left Karabakh in 2006, followed by a further
    one thousand in 2007.

    "During the war, many young people left, many died, others became
    invalids," said sociologist David Karabekian. "Today, invalids in
    Karabakh have no resources for creating a family and cannot get them,
    as they are not able to work."

    In the Nagorny Karabakh countryside, people still get married at an
    early age. "Girls in our village wed between the ages of 17 and 22,"
    said Armine Minasian, a resident of the village of Mets Takher in
    the Hadrut District, who is 22 and pregnant. "You are unlikely to
    find here a girl of this age unmarried." She said some of the girls
    she went to school with already had two or three children.

    But in the town of Stepanakert there are many single women aged over
    30, which is an unusual phenomenon in this traditional society.

    Irina Soghomonian is 32 and unmarried. She blames it on the war,
    in which she says many of the men of her age died, while those who
    survived have long been married.

    Irina says she wants a child of her own so as not to be alone when
    she grows old, possibly through adoption but acknowledges that it is
    an expensive undertaking.

    "Besides, in Karabakh, people tend to disapprove of adopting a child
    or having one out of wedlock," she said. "It can become a subject
    for gossip. That is why one should make serious preparations before
    daring to take the step."

    Relationships in which people live together without official blessing
    as well as mothers having children outside marriage are not common in
    Karabakh, being seen as unacceptable, if not amoral, by local society.

    Economic considerations way heavily on young people. The average
    salary in the republic is now 25,000 drams (82 dollars), having grown
    by 5,000 from last year.

    Sasun Petrosian, 30, is a bachelor. He says he wants to have a family
    of his own, but won't take risks because of the uncertain prospects
    he faces. "The problem is not the girls, it's that I have no house
    of my own and no regular job to support a family," said Petrosian,
    who is a mechanical engineer and receives a monthly salary of 50,000
    drams. "What girl will want to date me, with a salary like mine?"

    The Artsakh Development Agency is starting to provide mortgages that
    are repayable over long periods of up to 20 years and bear an annual
    interest rate of 12 per cent. However, there are worries that not
    all young people will be able to benefit from the programme.

    While the government takes upon itself some of the burden of the
    interest (new prime minister Ara Harutiunian said the annual rate
    would be only six per cent), a person applying for a loan to buy a
    house is expected to earn more than 300 dollars a month, which is a
    high salary for Karabakh.

    Family demands as well as government programmes mean that most
    Karabakhi girls do get married, if they find the right partner.

    "It is commonly held in Karabakh that the average age for a girl to
    get married is 19 to 21, but I'm not worried that I'm still single,"
    said 22-year-old Lusine Gasparian. "Moreover, I am not going to get
    married in the next few years. I still need some time to establish
    myself, though I have decided for me that the latest age [for getting
    married] is 26. My family is more worried about me being single,
    and my grandma finds eligible suitors for me almost every week."

    Lusine Musaelian is a correspondent with Demo newspaper in Nagorny
    Karabakh and a member of IWPR's EU-funded Cross Caucasus Journalism
    Network project. The terminology used in this article about Nagorny
    Karabakh was chosen by IWPR, not the author.
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