The Yerevan State University Faculty of History hosted the screening of “Chardakhlu-heroes’ homeland” documentary, the filming of which was over thru the grant allocated by the RA President’s Office to the “Arial” cultural NGO and the competition announced by the Youth Foundation of Armenia. The film is about the Armenian village of Chardakhlu located in the territory of Azerbaijan that is known with marshals, generals, colonels and Artsakh liberation war heroes. Chardakhlu is the only village in the world that has given 5 Knights of George “Golden Cross”, 2 marshals, 11 generals, 7 Heroes of the Soviet Union, and more than 50 Colonels. “Not every nation has marshals, moreover the Soviet Union Marshals. Chardakhlu has given generals also to the Tsar army, such as the hero of Bayazit Lieutenant General Ghukasov, Major-General Margaryan, who was also the doctor of Nicholas I. Suppose the Russian army had very few pilots in the World War I and one of them was from Chardakhlu. He died in the Turkish front”, – film director Ruben Grigoryan in an interview with Aravot.am.
Due to the famous events of 1988, the villagers were forcibly displaced. “Chardakhlu was a fairly large village with a few thousand population. Chardakhlu residents settled down in the village of Zorakan, Noyemberyan region, and wanted to change the name of the village to Chardakhlu. Some of them reside in one of the villages nearby Yerevan,” said Grigoryan. We also asked the film director about the fate of the historic cultural values of the heroic village. “They say that Azerbaijanis have destroyed the village cemetery and turned into an arable land. They had destroyed the statue to the World War II. There was also a marshals’ museum in the village,” said Ruben Grigoryan. Incidentally, the history of Chardakhlu begins since the kingdom of Van. Remains of the fortresses of Urartu period and cross stones are preserved in the village.
Luiza SUKIASYAN
