The people of Aravus did not imagine that the Azeris would control the laundry, the work in the garden, and the children playing
The people of Aravus woke up one day and became residents of a border village. In this village of the Syunik province, the Azerbaijani position is right next to the village, right above Aravus. Children play and go to school and kindergarten under enemy fire. “It is very difficult psychologically. As soon as it gets dark, we do not let the children outside,” says Garik’s wife, Zhanna.
Read also
She came to Aravus as a bride from the neighboring village of Tegh 16 years ago, when the Azeris were hundreds of kilometers away from the village. It never occurred to her that one day, the Azeris would supervise the Aravus women washing clothes, carrying water, working in the garden, and the children playing. After the enlargement of the communities, Aravus merged with the Tegh community.
The distance from Goris is 22 kilometers.
It is located on the left side of the Goris-Stepanakert highway, on a mountain slope. After the 44-day war, Aravus lost several tens of hectares of pastures. People who have suffered for years and raised animals were forced to cut the number of animals they had after the war. They either slaughtered the animals, sold the meat cheaply, or sold the animals. They say it makes no sense to keep animals if the animal will not be taken out of the barn. They have no pasture or fodder.
Misha Avagyan is 85 years old. He says he has lived in Aravus since the day he was born. His grandson, daughter, and son all live in this village. The Avagyan family also sold the cattle that had multiplied over the years. Five out of 25 animals were left to have milk, yogurt, and cheese for the needs of the house. The incident with shepherd Felix was also right in front of him. Months ago, shepherd Felix from Aravus and his animals were abducted by the Azerbaijani military from the village gorge. “I told him to sit down and eat a piece of bread, and then I saw 12 Azerbaijanis with their commander. I was taken away, as well as the animals,” says Felix Avagyan, a resident of Aravus.
According to him, he was returned, then the horse and the cell phone, but some of the animals were not returned. We met Garik, who had come to feed the orphaned “Monica” with a pacifier, Felix, and other cattle breeders on the way to Aravus, where their barns were. People sighed and said with great difficulty that they bought more animals over the years to have a prosperous life in old age and to take care of their children, but now they not only deal with the problem of their daily life, but also physical existence.
Aravus, as a border village, was included in the list of settlements receiving benefits from the state in 2021. As social assistance, 50 percent of the gas, electricity, and water consumed by the residents of the border communities is reimbursed, and in the case of property and irrigation water, the entire amount.
But the problem is that many people in Aravus do not have gas, they use very little electricity, they mainly heat the house and cook with a wood stove. They have almost no land to irrigate and make use of these benefits. According to the residents of Aravus, it turns out that these compensations do not remove a thorn from the border resident. They were offered the state social assistance as needed, for example in the form of wood or other natural products, if they wanted to help the villagers and keep them in the village.
Aravus lost Serob in the 44-day war. The village monument, which is carefully fenced and considered almost a sanctuary for the village, was founded after the Patriotic War, then “supplemented” with a monument in honor of the fallen freedom fighters during the First Artsakh War. Even after the 44-day war, a monument with a picture of soldier Serob was added. In response to the question of whether there is emigration from the village, the people of Aravus pointed to the monument and asked, did they die so that we could emigrate? According to them, the existence of Azerbaijanis is not so frightening if the state solves the security problems to some extent.
Lusine BUDAGHYAN
