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LIFE AT THE EDGE: A VISIT TO THE BORDER VILLAGE OF KHACHIK
[ Part 2.2: "Attached Text" ]
http://armenianow.com/society/features/47931/nakhijevan_armenia_border_karabakh_war_khachik_vil lage
FEATURES | 23.07.13 | 15:13
Photo: Gohar Abrahamyan/ArmeniaNow.com
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Backed by the high mountains of Nakhijevan, topped with sparkling white
peak of little Masis, people of a border village 120 kilometers from
Yerevan villagers guard their land from an enemy they have resisted
for two decades.
Enlarge Photo Abrahamyan family Enlarge Photo Vardan Nersisyan
Enlarge Photo Alvard Iskandaryan
Nested on the slope of broad-shouldered mountains, 500 meters from
the Armenian-Azeri border, Khachik village of Vayots Dzor province
shares a 27-km border with Nakhijevan, now part of Azerbaijan.
Khachik is a testament to her heroes. Love and duty to the motherland
go without saying here. The village is a tiny part of the country
where Armenia begins and ends.
"The village took an active part in the [national liberation]
movement. In 1989, it got shelled by artillery attack, we had to
arrange our defense and strike back. We stood together, young and
old, and kept our village," recalls Vardan Nersisyan, 46, the village
community leader. "In Khachik our opponent almost never breaks the
ceasefire regime signed in 1994. This village fought a heroic battle
to survive."
There are now 1,028 people living in Khachik, which had 1,400 residents
before Armenia's independence. Just like in many villages of Armenia,
in Khachik, too, there are locked doors indicating immigration,
which the village head says is not much, but there are some who leave.
"Not many resort to labor migration; those who do and find jobs, come
back to take their families," says the village head and stresses with
regret that the birth rate in the village has dropped.
"Traditionally in our village families used to have 4-5 cildren,
today they settle on one or two."
The big family of Abrahamyans lives in a house that bears the stamp
of the war. They are a traditional Armenian rural family where three
generations reside together: four children, parents, and grandparents.
"We built this house 52 years ago, then it suffered from the hands of
'Turks'[they commonly call Azeris 'Turks']. We were poor, but worked
hard, supported one another, have overcome days of privation, have had
children, raised them, sent boys to the army, then they got married,
and now we rely on our sons to take care of us. We will live and
see how they will manage," says 77-year old Taguhi Yeghoyan, smiling
through the web of wrinkles the years have marked her face with. From
the window of her house damaged yet from the war she points to the
roof of their new house, a few streets down from where they live.
The Abrahamyans are among the lucky 12 families of Khachik who have
all their hopes for better future linked to their new house.
In 2012, the state budghet allotted 50 million drams (around $122,000)
to Khachik for building houses for the socially vulnerable and large
families there. Two-storey newly-built, although yet unfinished, houses
are standing proudly, welcoming you just as you enter the village.
"We are going to have a new house, with four rooms. New house,
new hope! We are sure that everything will be all right. My husband
is a master himself, he is building our house with his own hands,"
says mother of four, 38-year-old Vard Abrahamyan.
During the soviet years people were actively working the land, growing
fruit and vegetable, but now because of the irrigation problem many
have given up on their once lush gardens and abundant orchards.
"Our gardens dried out diring the years of the war. We are now trying
to restore them, but lack of irrigation water won't let us.
We have mechanical pumps, with the help of which we irrigate the land,
but they are not of much help, because they are old and worn out and
often fail, and there are little reserves of gravity-flow water,"
says the community leader.
The village head says the irrigation issue was discussed with the
country leader and suggestions were made on building a reservoir,
because the water generated by the melting snow flows completely
towards Nakhijevan; no steps have been taken so far.
The majority of men in Khachik are contract servicemen; they also
breed livestock, do a little bit of farming, and sell the produce at
the market.
Khachik now yields around 50 tons of grapes in the season, instead
of the 100-120 tons of before. Nersisyan says they are expecting
abundant crops this year.
The biggest of the only three shops belongs to Alvard Iskandaryan's
family. Her words depict best the social picture of the village.
"We have run a shop since 1998, then in 2004 opened this one. It is
a universal shop, has everything in it - clothes, hardware, pottery,
fruit and vegetable, staples," says Iskandaryan, 47, who opens a drawer
and takes out debt-lists totaling to 7 million drams ($17,000). "People
here take everything on credit, the day-by-day growing prices put
them in a difficult state. People are short of money."
In 2012, the only school of the village shelled during the war got
full repair sponsored by the Social Investment Fund of Armenia. The
school has 110 students.The village's culture house, offering free
weightlifting and dance classes, is now under repair as well.
The village standing out with its historical-cultural monuments is
taking steps to also develop tourism.
The state and various foundations' assistance help to ease the burden
of hardship for Khachk residents and inspire hopes for better future,
but the always-present fear that the war might resume hangs over them
like a big dark ominous shadow.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
[ Part 2.2: "Attached Text" ]
http://armenianow.com/society/features/47931/nakhijevan_armenia_border_karabakh_war_khachik_vil lage
FEATURES | 23.07.13 | 15:13
Photo: Gohar Abrahamyan/ArmeniaNow.com
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Backed by the high mountains of Nakhijevan, topped with sparkling white
peak of little Masis, people of a border village 120 kilometers from
Yerevan villagers guard their land from an enemy they have resisted
for two decades.
Enlarge Photo Abrahamyan family Enlarge Photo Vardan Nersisyan
Enlarge Photo Alvard Iskandaryan
Nested on the slope of broad-shouldered mountains, 500 meters from
the Armenian-Azeri border, Khachik village of Vayots Dzor province
shares a 27-km border with Nakhijevan, now part of Azerbaijan.
Khachik is a testament to her heroes. Love and duty to the motherland
go without saying here. The village is a tiny part of the country
where Armenia begins and ends.
"The village took an active part in the [national liberation]
movement. In 1989, it got shelled by artillery attack, we had to
arrange our defense and strike back. We stood together, young and
old, and kept our village," recalls Vardan Nersisyan, 46, the village
community leader. "In Khachik our opponent almost never breaks the
ceasefire regime signed in 1994. This village fought a heroic battle
to survive."
There are now 1,028 people living in Khachik, which had 1,400 residents
before Armenia's independence. Just like in many villages of Armenia,
in Khachik, too, there are locked doors indicating immigration,
which the village head says is not much, but there are some who leave.
"Not many resort to labor migration; those who do and find jobs, come
back to take their families," says the village head and stresses with
regret that the birth rate in the village has dropped.
"Traditionally in our village families used to have 4-5 cildren,
today they settle on one or two."
The big family of Abrahamyans lives in a house that bears the stamp
of the war. They are a traditional Armenian rural family where three
generations reside together: four children, parents, and grandparents.
"We built this house 52 years ago, then it suffered from the hands of
'Turks'[they commonly call Azeris 'Turks']. We were poor, but worked
hard, supported one another, have overcome days of privation, have had
children, raised them, sent boys to the army, then they got married,
and now we rely on our sons to take care of us. We will live and
see how they will manage," says 77-year old Taguhi Yeghoyan, smiling
through the web of wrinkles the years have marked her face with. From
the window of her house damaged yet from the war she points to the
roof of their new house, a few streets down from where they live.
The Abrahamyans are among the lucky 12 families of Khachik who have
all their hopes for better future linked to their new house.
In 2012, the state budghet allotted 50 million drams (around $122,000)
to Khachik for building houses for the socially vulnerable and large
families there. Two-storey newly-built, although yet unfinished, houses
are standing proudly, welcoming you just as you enter the village.
"We are going to have a new house, with four rooms. New house,
new hope! We are sure that everything will be all right. My husband
is a master himself, he is building our house with his own hands,"
says mother of four, 38-year-old Vard Abrahamyan.
During the soviet years people were actively working the land, growing
fruit and vegetable, but now because of the irrigation problem many
have given up on their once lush gardens and abundant orchards.
"Our gardens dried out diring the years of the war. We are now trying
to restore them, but lack of irrigation water won't let us.
We have mechanical pumps, with the help of which we irrigate the land,
but they are not of much help, because they are old and worn out and
often fail, and there are little reserves of gravity-flow water,"
says the community leader.
The village head says the irrigation issue was discussed with the
country leader and suggestions were made on building a reservoir,
because the water generated by the melting snow flows completely
towards Nakhijevan; no steps have been taken so far.
The majority of men in Khachik are contract servicemen; they also
breed livestock, do a little bit of farming, and sell the produce at
the market.
Khachik now yields around 50 tons of grapes in the season, instead
of the 100-120 tons of before. Nersisyan says they are expecting
abundant crops this year.
The biggest of the only three shops belongs to Alvard Iskandaryan's
family. Her words depict best the social picture of the village.
"We have run a shop since 1998, then in 2004 opened this one. It is
a universal shop, has everything in it - clothes, hardware, pottery,
fruit and vegetable, staples," says Iskandaryan, 47, who opens a drawer
and takes out debt-lists totaling to 7 million drams ($17,000). "People
here take everything on credit, the day-by-day growing prices put
them in a difficult state. People are short of money."
In 2012, the only school of the village shelled during the war got
full repair sponsored by the Social Investment Fund of Armenia. The
school has 110 students.The village's culture house, offering free
weightlifting and dance classes, is now under repair as well.
The village standing out with its historical-cultural monuments is
taking steps to also develop tourism.
The state and various foundations' assistance help to ease the burden
of hardship for Khachk residents and inspire hopes for better future,
but the always-present fear that the war might resume hangs over them
like a big dark ominous shadow.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress