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News about Artsakh

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  • Re: News about Artsakh

    The New Tigranakert: Residents Have High Hopes for Liberated Karabakh Town
    [ 2010/01/25 | 17:24 ] Nagorno Karabakh Feature Stories
    Sona Avagyan

    “I understood that this was to become our real, actual, Tigranakert city,” joked Harout Baghiryan.

    The Baghiryan family has been living in Tigranakert, formerly Aghdam, for the past twelve years. After the experts excavated the place and found that the town was built by Tigran the Great, Harout Baghiryan realized that he had made the right choice in putting down roots here. Harout presented himself as town’s supervisor.

    When asked what areas he was especially keeping an eye on, he answered, “In general, I’m monitoring all the grounds of the archeological sites. I keep an eye on all of it to see that no one cuts down a tree or disturbs anything. I’ve been doing this work on a voluntary basis for ten years now.”

    Baghiryan family moved to Artsakh in 1994


    It’s been a year and a half that Harout has been registered as the inspector for which he receives 60,000 AMD per month. He’s the only one in the household that works. The extended family consists of his wife Alvina, his mother-in-law, his son and his wife and the grandkids. His daughter stays with the family during school vacations. There’s no school in Tigranakert and his daughter lives with her mother’s sister in Askeran, where she attends classes.

    The Baghiryans moved to Artsakh in 1994 and resided in the village of Astghashen, formerly Dashboulagh, in the Askeran district.

    “Before that we lived in Chardakhlou, the village off Marshall Baghramyan and Babatchanyan. We’re refugees. After the Karabakh movement started we relocated to Hrazdan and then here, to Artsakh,” stated Mrs. Baghiryan, adding, “When my husband participated in the war he stated, ‘it doesn’t make sense for me to fight and then to leave this place.’ That’s how we moved to Karabakh.”

    The family moved from Astghashen to Tigranakert in order to become better off financially. They tend to the livestock of others as well as raising their own – cows, chickens and turkeys. The family also has a garden capable of producing all kinds of produce. Mrs. Baghiryan says they don’t have a minute’s free time; there’s always something to do. The Baghiryans live in a two room house. The second room was added on last year. One room just wasn’t enough for all of them.

    No electricity for ten years

    “Hey, like it or not, you have to make the best of it. You have to take care of the children, put food on the table, and everything else in between. It’s not easy,” she said, adding that since they live close to the main Martakert-Stepanakert roadway, transportation isn’t much of a problem.

    They have no electricity in the house. “We haven’t had electricity for ten years. We gotten by using lamps. It’s only last year that we’ve started to use a generator, but only during the evenings for about 2-3 hours,” Alvina said. They have a T.V. but since they can’t receive any Yerevan channels they only use it to watch videos.

    Mrs. Baghiryan says that she gets her news from “here and there”. She tells us that there are twenty-five families in Tigranakert but that most aren’t permanent residents.

    “People don’t stay not only because there is no electricity but because there’s no school in town. Where will their kids go to class? Now, if there were electricity, a school, a kindergarten, they’d all stay here. This is liberated land, no? We have to come and settle here in order to protect what we have liberated. Our numbers here must increase, she argued.

    Mrs. Baghiryan – “I will never leave”

    Mrs. Baghiryan says she will not leave Tigranakert, even if she gets the opportunity to return to her native village of Chardakhlou in the Shamkhor district, that she was forced to leave.

    “Perhaps many others will have the chance to go back but I won’t because I have buried a daughter here. She fell into the water here when 16 years-old. There’s here photo. It’s possible that I’d go back for a visit if I had the chance, but no permanently. I won’t abandon her,” stated Alvina.

    The family has picked out a plot of land in Tigranakert where the NKR government has promised to build them a house this year. The house they had in Astghashen was demolished by the storms. When she complained, the authorities told her that while they couldn’t renovate the house, they would build the family a new one in Tigranakert.

    “They promised that there’d be construction, that we’d get a house. The chief of the Askeran district, whose name I can’t remember, promised that they’d help out, but it’s been awhile and nothing happened. I still believe them and hope for the best but things are all right the way they are now. Just so long as conditions remain calm and that our kids can grow up under a peaceful sky. That’s our dream,” said Mrs. Baghiryan

    Her husband, Harout, participated in the war from start to finish.

    “I came here early on when there were only the volunteer units. I remember the day I settled here, May 3, 1990. I haven’t gone anywhere since. Despite all the hard times we’ve managed to stay together and enjoy good times as well. We’ve watched each other’s back and stuck close. That’s how we won the war. But it was the partisan units that guaranteed our victory, not the regular army. If we had a regular army earlier on, believe me, we would have captured Baku as well. I fully convinced that returning any land is out of the question. However, we could still advance further; until the River Kur, to liberate all of our Armenian lands. I am convinced of this,” stated Harout.

    A museum is scheduled to open this year


    Harout also has expectations linked to the new year. Construction work has been going on at the Panakh Khan fort in Tigranakert for the past year. The fort is scheduled to officially open this year as a museum. Tourist numbers have been on the rise in this area.

    “Our government stated back then that this area would really get developed. Then representatives from the newly formed Ministry of Tourism visited the place and drew up projects. The project they proposed for this area is really something to behold,” he stated.

    Another primary responsibility of his job is to escort tourists when they arrive and to give them background information regarding the area. The Persians built the Panakh Khan fort back in the 18th century. In the 1980’s the Azeris turned the place into a restaurant. Harout says that they removed some 150 dump trucks full of garbage from the restaurant.

    “We want tourists to flock to Tigranakert”


    “It will really be an interesting museum. This place is really scenic and will be a great tourist site for all to come and see. People from all over can come and visit and relax while learning about our history at the same time. The best of both worlds; wouldn’t you say? The future looks promising. If the trees bear fruit 2 or 3 times per year, things will be even better,” Harout stated.

    A basilica church dating from the 4th century was unearthed in Tigranakert during the excavations that began in 2004. An ancient Armenian inscription was also discovered on a clay disc measuring seven centimeters in diameter. Experts regard this inscription as one of the most important finds in this city built by Tigran the Great.

    Harout Baghiryan told us that there are also plans to build a coffee house and bar in the town. “In order to welcome our guests with the utmost of hospitality, we’ll make sure to build places here with all the comforts of home. We want to do ourselves proud. The more guests that arrive, the better. We want to make them really feel welcome. I’ve spent time with many visitors and none have seen the need to complain.”

    Hetq - News, Articles, Investigations
    Azerbaboon: 9.000 Google hits and counting!

    Comment


    • Re: News about Artsakh

      Tigranakert could become a regular tourist attraction if they play their cards right.
      Hayastan or Bust.

      Comment


      • Re: News about Artsakh

        Originally posted by Haykakan View Post
        Tigranakert could become a regular tourist attraction if they play their cards right.
        Definitely. If they make it welcoming for tourists and get the word out, I can see that happening.
        "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." ~Malcolm X

        Comment


        • Re: News about Artsakh

          What a great family! God bless them and I hope things really pick up in Tigranakert!
          For the first time in more than 600 years, Armenia is free and independent, and we are therefore obligated
          to place our national interests ahead of our personal gains or aspirations.



          http://www.armenianhighland.com/main.html

          Comment


          • Re: News about Artsakh

            This Article was posted on Al Jazeera. I send them a feedback addressing Aliyev, somehow I don't think they will post it. I also asked them to open a discussion in this matter, maybe they will but I doubt that as well unless tensions pick up.

            ------------------------------------------------

            Nagorno-Karabakh tensions fester




            By Matthew Collin in Nagorno-Karabakh
            Feb 05, 2010


            War-damaged houses, burnt out during the 1990s, still stand derelict

            In the frontline trenches of Nagorno-Karabakh, the long-running conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over the disputed mountain enclave continues.

            In the village of Khramort, children make their way home from school for lunch, some laughing and joking with each other, others holding on tightly to their mothers' hands.

            But further along the rocky track which winds its way upwards towards the snow-covered mountain overshadowing the village, there is no more laughter to be heard, and no human life to be seen either.

            Here, rows of houses stand derelict; burnt out during the war in the 1990s, when Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenians, backed by Armenia itself, seized control over the region from Azerbaijan.

            Khramort is not far from the frontline, where the Karabakh Armenians and the Azerbaijanis have been dug in to their fortified positions amidst an uneasy standoff since the ceasefire in 1994.

            Ghost town

            Armen Grigorian, a local labourer who was chopping wood in his front yard, watched by his four young children, said he wasn't worried that two armies were facing each other just a couple of kilometres away.

            "After going through a war, there's no fear in us anymore, and even if fighting did start again, where could we escape to?" he asked.

            No final peace deal has yet been signed, and although Nagorno-Karabakh is now under ethnic Armenian control and claims to be independent, it is still internationally recognised as being part of Azerbaijan.


            Nagorno-Karabakh remains under Armenian

            Armen Grigorian's garden offered a grim view of the nearby "ghost town" of Aghdam, which was utterly demolished after its Azerbaijani population fled when it fell to the Armenians during the war.

            It's a bleak symbol of a conflict which is estimated to have driven more than a million Azerbaijanis and Armenians from their homes, as well as leaving up to 30,000 people dead.

            Grigorian insisted that Azerbaijanis should never be allowed to return to Nagorno-Karabakh, and that the two peoples should never live alongside each other again.

            "Remember the history – when we lived together, there was war," he said.

            "If we live together again, sooner or later, there will be war again, so of course it’s better this way."

            Rising tensions

            A short drive from Khramort, Nagorno-Karabakh's frontline troops were running through one of their daily weapons drills in the muddy trenches.

            Many of them are teenage conscripts who are too young to remember the war.

            But 18-year-old Rafik Melkonian insisted that he and his fellow soldiers were "ready to destroy" the Azerbaijanis.

            "Our mission is to defend the borders of our homeland, protect families, and stop our enemies moving forward," he said.


            Exhanges of gunfire are often seen on the frontline trenches [Matthew Collin]

            There are often exchanges of gunfire across the ceasefire line, and soldiers are occasionally killed.

            Tensions have risen in recent months after a series of tough statements from Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan's president, who has warned that if peace talks don't deliver results, he could order a new offensive to retake Nagorno-Karabakh and areas around it which were also seized by the Armenians during the war.

            Energy-rich Azerbaijan has been using some of its income from oil and gas sales to fund huge increases in defence expenditure.

            "We are spending billions on buying new weapons and hardware, and strengthening our army's position," Aliyev said in November.

            "We have the full right to liberate our land by military means."

            Georgi Petrosian, the foreign minister in the unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh government, said he was "concerned but not afraid" about Azerbaijan's military build-up.

            "We managed to stand up and find the strength in ourselves to declare our independence and defend our freedom in much more difficult situations than the one we're in today," Petrosian said, promising fierce defence of the self-proclaimed republic.

            If fighting did resume, the Nagorno-Karabakh military would again be backed up by Armenian troops.

            Serzh Sarkisian, the president of Armenia, is a former Nagorno-Karabakh military commander, as is Armenia's defence minister, Seyran Ohanian, who recently promised that his forces would get involved "in all hot spots which might, God forbid, emerge".

            The dramatic landscape of Nagorno-Karabakh – its name means "mountainous black garden" - continues to inspire intense passions on both sides.

            Rehabilitation

            But away from the frontline, in the region's quiet little capital, Stepanakert, there is a greater feeling of security.


            Stepanakert now resembles an ordinary post-Soviet town [Matthew Collin]

            Stepanakert has been rebuilt, with financial support from Armenia and the huge Armenian diaspora, and now resembles an ordinary, provincial post-Soviet town.

            Its first western-style shopping mall opened recently, enabling affluent locals to buy imported Italian sportswear, upmarket beauty products and replica football shirts from Europe's top clubs.

            "This town might be quiet, but that's better than when we were being shelled during the war and we had to hide in basements with rats running around," said one young woman who was visiting the mall.

            Petrosian said it was time to "move forward from survival to development", but admitted that it would take much longer to rebuild the rest of this isolated and impoverished region.

            "There is not a single place which has not suffered, and not a single family which doesn't need social and psychological rehabilitation," he explained.

            Despite the hostile rhetoric, both Armenia and Azerbaijan insist that they are committed to the peaceful resolution of the conflict, and negotiations have intensified over the past year-and-a-half.

            But even if progress is made, they completely disagree about the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh, with Azerbaijan maintaining that the region must not be allowed to secede.

            "We will not give our land away to anyone," Ramiz Mehdiyev, the head of Azerbaijan’s presidential administration, said recently.

            The ethnic Armenians who now control the region, however, say they will never return to Azerbaijani rule.

            "Time is irreversible," Petrosian declared. "You can't turn back the clock."

            News, analysis from the Middle East & worldwide, multimedia & interactives, opinions, documentaries, podcasts, long reads and broadcast schedule.
            B0zkurt Hunter

            Comment


            • Re: News about Artsakh

              More foreigners visit NKR
              02.03.2010 14:53 GMT+04:00

              /PanARMENIAN.Net/ Despite the global financial crisis, the total number of foreign citizens having visited the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters of 2009 increased by 10% as compared to the similar period of 2008, according to the data provided by the NKR MFA Consular Service.

              Last year, tourists from Mozambique, Guyana, Venezuela, and Mauritania visited the Nagorno Karabakh Republic for the first time. Among the tourists, citizens of the US, France, Iran, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Italia, Poland, India, and the CIS countries, especially Russia and Turkmenistan, are prevailing.

              Foreigners’ interest in Artsakh continues growing. True information about the Karabakh issue, the history of the country and the inculcation of democratic principles in the NKR contribute to this process, reported the NKR MFA Press Service.

              Azerbaboon: 9.000 Google hits and counting!

              Comment


              • Re: News about Artsakh

                Were they all members of the United Nations or something?
                "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." ~Malcolm X

                Comment


                • Re: News about Artsakh

                  Armenian soldier dies as a result of ceasefire violation by Azeri armed forces

                  02.03.2010 17:16 GMT+04:00

                  /PanARMENIAN.Net/ On March 1, 1:30 p.m. local time, another case of ceasefire violation by Azeri armed forces was registered in RA Tavush region, resulting in death of Armenian soldier.

                  Squad commander Sargis Voskanyan died as a result of head wound received. An inquiry is now in progress, RA Defense Ministry press service reported.



                  ------------------------

                  He was 29 years old..............RIP Hye Soldier.
                  B0zkurt Hunter

                  Comment


                  • Re: News about Artsakh

                    Register as a Friend of Artsakh

                    B0zkurt Hunter

                    Comment


                    • Re: News about Artsakh

                      Originally posted by Eddo211 View Post
                      Register as a Friend of Artsakh

                      http://www.nkrusa.org/friends/register.shtml

                      Thank you for posting this. I just did and I hope others do as well!
                      For the first time in more than 600 years, Armenia is free and independent, and we are therefore obligated
                      to place our national interests ahead of our personal gains or aspirations.



                      http://www.armenianhighland.com/main.html

                      Comment

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