Without having overcome the lifestyle and mental state of being a refugee, Ms. Manya and her husband, 88-year-old Vladimir, are facing a new challenge in life. The couple is worried because they might be forced to leave the life they created together for a second time. They said that they’re old, and they won’t be able to handle it this time. The couple came to Tigranashen from Getashen during the first Artsakh war. They escaped with the clothes they were wearing. They weren’t even able to take one needle with them of their other belongings.
They built a house and lifestyle from scratch in Tigranashen. Vladimir Sarayan still works in his garden. He has rabbits and other pets. But since he heard that Tigranashen and other settlements in Armenia might also be handed over, he is beside himself. Although he understood by his age that one’s belongings mean nothing in comparison to human life.
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“We lived through that once. We left everything behind and came here. We created a three-story building. Now, it’s in ruins. We fixed it and are living here, but they want to take us out of Kyarki, too. We aren’t even worth that ruined house. We don’t know what will happen. If the government makes us leave, will they give us a house? I don’t know what this state and government that is firmly staying in power are thinking. They obey all of Azerbaijan’s demands. We consider this our homeland, but they make us leave our homes in our homeland,” Manya Sarayan told Aravot Daily in an interview.
According to her, they have not received any specific information as far as whether or not Tigranashen will be handed over or not. The residents have been living in Tigranashen for two months with doubt in their hearts. They don’t want to add anything to their businesses. Instead, many residents are thinking about selling their homes. However, they weren’t able to do that, either. The properties in Tigranashen haven’t been registered with the cadastre in over 30 years. People are living in their homes without ownership licenses. They are registered as residents of one of the streets in the Paruyr Sevak village.
Vladimir Sarayan remembered many of his father’s stories; it is not possible to live peacefully with Turks. “My father said that it was good the Soviet Union existed. Until then, Armenians and Turks fought each other. The Soviet Union caused relations to improve, but in the end, Gorbachev did not care about the massacres in Sumgait, Baku, and Kirovabad. They killed 30 people in Getashen. And that’s it, we can’t live together. The Soviet Union needs to come back to govern them and us so that we can live together. Armenians and Turks have fought each other since the beginning. Even during the Soviet Union, the Turks attacked and took Kirovabad, Azat, Kamo, Martunashen, and what remained was one Getashen.”
The Tigranashen village of the Ararat Province, also known as Kyarki, is along the M2 route in Armenia that connects north and south. For two months, there have been rumors that the village will be handed over to Azerbaijan. Kyarki was an Azerbaijani enclave in Armenia during the Soviet Union. It is 60 kilometers from Yerevan. During the Artsakh war, the Armenian army took control of Kyarki. The majority of people living here were refugees from Baku, Getashen, Sumgait, and other towns. There are also many locals. While showing us the route that passes through northern Tigranashen, resident Norik Melkonyan said that this route is important to Armenia. This is how people go to Jermuk, Goris, Meghri, and Artsakh, and he cannot imagine how they would hand Tigranashen over. According to him, if the government arms the villagers, they are prepared to fight the Azeris as long as the village is not handed over. But he does not believe that the government will support the villagers.
A small agricultural market operates along the route almost all year. Residents of Tigranashen and neighboring villages sell their produce at this market. Norik Melkonyan has 8 children. Some of them got married and left, but others stayed and built homes. He said that he has been living in this village for 30 years, and Tigranashen is different from other villages in terms of climate. “It’s a wonderful, sunny, and bright village. It’s cold in the south, but it’s sunny here. It’s a peaceful and wonderful village. It’s like a village; it’s cut off from the Azeri border. The border is 7 kilometers away. The village is surrounded on all sides by Armenian settlements. What will they do if the village is handed over? How will they come and go?” he said. The answers to his questions are up in the air because the villagers have not received any official information. According to Norik Melkonyan, only the governor of Ararat told them to relax because the village will not be handed over.
In response to Aravot Daily’s question about what awaits Tigranashen and its residents, the press secretary of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Armine Muradyan, said that the rumors that the village will be handed over are not true. She said that the rumors have been denied on several platforms, and the public has been informed.
Lusine Budaghyan
