Aravot was in the Ishkhanasar community of the Syunik region. There are 302 registered residents in the village, and families displaced from Artsakh also live here. There are 58 students in the school. It was a common occurrence in the community: a group of young people were talking and the children were going home from school. And the teachers were looking for a car with which they could at least reach the nearest crossroads, from where they could find transport to Sisian.
The teachers said that in the morning, they take a taxi from Sisian to Ishkhanasar, and after school, they try to find a car that will take them to Sisian. Although the two communities are not far from each other, there is no public transport. The teachers say that everyone travels for themselves; if the residents do not have a car, they reach Sisian by taxi. The residents say that the village is growing. “It is a young village, every family has at least two schoolchildren. We have families with 4-5 children, and more children will be born here soon. People connect their future with the village.”
The administrative head of Ishkhanasar, Marat Petrosyan, says that even during border tensions, the children were at school and continued their classes. “This war is far above us – 25-30 km away, and it has not reached us. The bullets did not even fall here. After that, the people are fine, each to their own work. Our shepherds keep animals on the mountain. The mountain is 12 km high, now our sheep are there, and they will stay there at night.”
He said that on November 16 from 1 to 6 PM, they were able to hear noises in the community, but there was no panic in the village. “This was the first incident in all these years. They want a corridor, we will not give it to them either.” According to Marat Petrosyan, they are ready to defend the village at any moment. “In 1991 we won, we were happy.
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I participated in the war for four or five years. They took that territory again, of course, with the help of Turkey. Now those people have come, they have reached here. We took them out of the same places where they were sitting. Our village was a Turkish village, we sent the Turks out of here. They left, and now they want to come. We will not give it to them because it is ours, it was not theirs. Karabakh is also ours, not theirs. Let them know the history.”
He emphasized that he imagines their future only in Ishkhanasar. “Let them stay, what do they want? There is no factory, the people tend to their animals and take care of their land. We are strong people, and we live for ourselves. We have an army, we have soldiers, we are not afraid of anything here.”
Ami CHICHAKYAN
