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BAREKAMAVAN - THIS BORDER VILLAGE MIGHT BE A GHOST TOWN IN 5 YEARS
Voskan Sargsyan
http://hetq.am/eng/articles/3810/
August 24, 2011
Barekamavan is a small Armenian village straddling the country's
north-western border with Azerbaijan.
In the past 20 years since independence, the village has gotten
smaller still.
You'll bump into former residents in the neighboring towns of
Noyemberyan and Ijevan, in the capital Yerevan, and farther afield
as well, in Stavropol, Moscow. Some have even made it to Europe and
the States.
Loosely translated, Barekamavan means "District of Friends". It used
to be called "Taknagyugh" (Hidden Village), and for good reason. It
appears to be nestled it a small valley surrounded by forested hills.
It's so close to the border that you can hear the muezzin calling
the faithful to prayer over on the Azerbaijani side.
In 1976 the local school, going up to the 8th grade, boasted 330
pupils. It's now a 12 year high school but enrollment has plummeted
to just 34.
"Recently, there was one family that moved to Russia. Us old folk get
by on our pensions, but what can the young people do? There's no work.
The Turks have moved into our lands, but neither they nor we can
extract any profit," says 82 year-old resident Hovhannes Chitchyan.
He was referring to the family of Armen Yesayan. When they moved,
school enrolment dropped by another two pupils. And the exodus
continues.
"Come back in five years and nobody will be left," says another
old-timer, Volodya Gharakeshyan, aged 80.
He tripped a mine planted in one of the fields and his legs were
wounded. Volodya gets by on just a 28,000 AMD [US$76.30] pension.
Because the village is located on the border, in a danger zone,
some 500 hectares of land lies fallow. The elevated portion of the
village is out of harm's way and the villages graze their livestock
here and grow what they can.
Village Mayor Garik Abazyan says that 400 people are officially
registered as residents. The 30 year-old got married last year to a
local girl who had been living in Moscow for the past 16 years.
There are two small stores in Barekamavan. One is owned by the current
mayor, the other, by the former mayor.
It would be a stretch to call Mayor Abazyan's business a store. It's
so tiny and carries only a handful of goods.
Both stores run tabs for the local residents since they can only pay
cash when their pension checks arrive.
Right now, the village has no irrigation system. The International
Fund for Agricultural Development allocated $2.9 million [US$7,900] to
bring water from the Noyemberyan mountains to a number of neighboring
villages but Barekamavan was left out of the project.
The village even faces a problem with drinking water. Residents mostly
get their water from some local springs.
In the center of the village lies the bombed out shell that once
housed the cultural center and library.
On August 19, the newly built Saint Gregory Chapel was consecrated
close by. It was funded by former village resident Tsolak Mikayelyan
who now lives in Stavropol.
Villagers thank their generous compatriot for building a place where
they can now pray.
Some 2 kilometres from the village, deep in the forest, is the
Bardzryal Khach pilgrimage site. Originally a pagan mausoleum in the
shape of a tower, the structure was "Christianized" in the Middle
Ages - a cross was affixed to the window and a khachkar (stone cross)
was installed inside to serve as an altar.
In 2004, a construction company from Alaverdi was contracted to
renovate the site. Perhaps they should have left it alone.
The company did a Euro retrofit and failed to use the piles of old
stones strewn about the site that had fallen from the structure over
the centuries. Many of the stones even had episodic carvings.
RA Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan declared 2010 as "The Year
of Barekamavan".
I asked the mayor what took place in the village last year. He told
me that with assistance from the All Armenia Fund 60 hectares of
land were tilled and planted and that the crop was distributed to
villagers this year.
Mayor Abazyan also considers MP Mikayel Vardanyan to be a "friend"
of Barekamavan. He pushed through 1.2 million AMD [US$3,270] of
investment in the village in the way of farming equipment.
The village of Barekamavan defends this strategic border region
of Armenia.
But the village needs others to stand by its side in this important
mission.
Resident Hovhannes Chitchyan says that the village could really use
the investment of a visionary entrepreneur but that such people are
few and far between.
"A few businessmen have visited the village. Then they stare long
and hard at the border and say, 'What if the Turks open fire? My
investment will go up in smoke.' Others don't even enter the village.
They just look at Barekamavan's position and the Azeri villages across
the mountains and turn around."
Over the past few years, a number of sturdy, undamaged houses have
been dismantled for construction materials.
Family members no longer living in Barekamavan sell off the houses
for around $1,000.
Is this the fate that awaits this Armenian village on the border -
to be dismantled house by house and sold off as cheap construction
material?
Where are our legions of armchair patriots when needed?
They are definitely not to be found in Barekamavan defending Armenia's
border with Azerbaijan.
Voskan Sargsyan
http://hetq.am/eng/articles/3810/
August 24, 2011
Barekamavan is a small Armenian village straddling the country's
north-western border with Azerbaijan.
In the past 20 years since independence, the village has gotten
smaller still.
You'll bump into former residents in the neighboring towns of
Noyemberyan and Ijevan, in the capital Yerevan, and farther afield
as well, in Stavropol, Moscow. Some have even made it to Europe and
the States.
Loosely translated, Barekamavan means "District of Friends". It used
to be called "Taknagyugh" (Hidden Village), and for good reason. It
appears to be nestled it a small valley surrounded by forested hills.
It's so close to the border that you can hear the muezzin calling
the faithful to prayer over on the Azerbaijani side.
In 1976 the local school, going up to the 8th grade, boasted 330
pupils. It's now a 12 year high school but enrollment has plummeted
to just 34.
"Recently, there was one family that moved to Russia. Us old folk get
by on our pensions, but what can the young people do? There's no work.
The Turks have moved into our lands, but neither they nor we can
extract any profit," says 82 year-old resident Hovhannes Chitchyan.
He was referring to the family of Armen Yesayan. When they moved,
school enrolment dropped by another two pupils. And the exodus
continues.
"Come back in five years and nobody will be left," says another
old-timer, Volodya Gharakeshyan, aged 80.
He tripped a mine planted in one of the fields and his legs were
wounded. Volodya gets by on just a 28,000 AMD [US$76.30] pension.
Because the village is located on the border, in a danger zone,
some 500 hectares of land lies fallow. The elevated portion of the
village is out of harm's way and the villages graze their livestock
here and grow what they can.
Village Mayor Garik Abazyan says that 400 people are officially
registered as residents. The 30 year-old got married last year to a
local girl who had been living in Moscow for the past 16 years.
There are two small stores in Barekamavan. One is owned by the current
mayor, the other, by the former mayor.
It would be a stretch to call Mayor Abazyan's business a store. It's
so tiny and carries only a handful of goods.
Both stores run tabs for the local residents since they can only pay
cash when their pension checks arrive.
Right now, the village has no irrigation system. The International
Fund for Agricultural Development allocated $2.9 million [US$7,900] to
bring water from the Noyemberyan mountains to a number of neighboring
villages but Barekamavan was left out of the project.
The village even faces a problem with drinking water. Residents mostly
get their water from some local springs.
In the center of the village lies the bombed out shell that once
housed the cultural center and library.
On August 19, the newly built Saint Gregory Chapel was consecrated
close by. It was funded by former village resident Tsolak Mikayelyan
who now lives in Stavropol.
Villagers thank their generous compatriot for building a place where
they can now pray.
Some 2 kilometres from the village, deep in the forest, is the
Bardzryal Khach pilgrimage site. Originally a pagan mausoleum in the
shape of a tower, the structure was "Christianized" in the Middle
Ages - a cross was affixed to the window and a khachkar (stone cross)
was installed inside to serve as an altar.
In 2004, a construction company from Alaverdi was contracted to
renovate the site. Perhaps they should have left it alone.
The company did a Euro retrofit and failed to use the piles of old
stones strewn about the site that had fallen from the structure over
the centuries. Many of the stones even had episodic carvings.
RA Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan declared 2010 as "The Year
of Barekamavan".
I asked the mayor what took place in the village last year. He told
me that with assistance from the All Armenia Fund 60 hectares of
land were tilled and planted and that the crop was distributed to
villagers this year.
Mayor Abazyan also considers MP Mikayel Vardanyan to be a "friend"
of Barekamavan. He pushed through 1.2 million AMD [US$3,270] of
investment in the village in the way of farming equipment.
The village of Barekamavan defends this strategic border region
of Armenia.
But the village needs others to stand by its side in this important
mission.
Resident Hovhannes Chitchyan says that the village could really use
the investment of a visionary entrepreneur but that such people are
few and far between.
"A few businessmen have visited the village. Then they stare long
and hard at the border and say, 'What if the Turks open fire? My
investment will go up in smoke.' Others don't even enter the village.
They just look at Barekamavan's position and the Azeri villages across
the mountains and turn around."
Over the past few years, a number of sturdy, undamaged houses have
been dismantled for construction materials.
Family members no longer living in Barekamavan sell off the houses
for around $1,000.
Is this the fate that awaits this Armenian village on the border -
to be dismantled house by house and sold off as cheap construction
material?
Where are our legions of armchair patriots when needed?
They are definitely not to be found in Barekamavan defending Armenia's
border with Azerbaijan.