InternationalLack of resettlement detrimental to Hadrut
Karabakh’s regional centers are falling behind Stepanakert in development
Published: Saturday February 28, 2009
A view from the caves of Azokh in the Hadrut region. The caves were inhabited 50,000–100,000 years ago, archeologists say. Tatul Hakobyan / Armenian Reporter
Hadrut, Nagorno-Karabakh - Hadrut is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with a valley to the south. The valley opens to the Araks River valley, where the winters are mild, almost without any snow.
During the Karabakh war, the armed forces of Azerbaijan were able to move toward Hadrut from the south, and with the help of Soviet-armed units, occupy and deport the residents of the 14 villages of the region. Once the Russian tanks stopped supporting the Azerbaijanis, however, the people of Karabakh liberated all of the seized villages, which had been looted and destroyed during the years of occupation.
The majority of the residents of those villages did not return to their homes. The resettlement issue is one of the biggest problems facing the region. In order to defend a country, first of all people are required. Today the Hadrut region (inducing the liberated territories that are administratively part of the region) occupies about 1,800 square kilometers and has only 12 thousand residents.
Valeri Gevorgyan, head of Hadrut region's administration, confirms that during the past several years the population has not decreased, but it has only barely increased.
"It has increased, but very little," he said. "The thing is that during our struggle, during the war, our youth, who would have been married now and would have had children, fell victim. We had 330 casualties in the region. In other words, 330 families. Secondly, we had 14 villages from which the population was deported during the ‘Ring' military operation. Those villages were liberated, but the majority of their inhabitants did not return," Mr. Gevorgyan said.
Construction worker Gagik Avanesian, one of the residents of Hadrut, thinks the aftereffects of the war are not the only reasons behind today's demography.
The job market
"Young people do not get married because they do not have a house," he said. "People should feel that there is a state. If they construct houses, young people will live and get married there. Today only 1 percent of the region's population can afford to construct their own houses. And those who have the money prefer to construct or purchase a house in Yerevan, Stepanakert, or any other city rather than in Hadrut. For that reason the state must show an interest in improving the demographic situation," Mr. Avanesian said.
Just as Armenia's regions have fallen behind Yerevan in their development, so too have the regions of Nagorno-Karabakh fallen behind Stepanakert. One-third of Armenia's population is concentrated in Yerevan and its surrounding areas; the same applies to Artsakh Armenians who live in Stepanakert and its surrounding towns. And so, both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh resemble a sick child with a big head and thin legs.
The boom in construction of recent years has also had a negative side effect. Thousands of workers from Armenia's and Nagorno-Karabakh's villages have moved to Yerevan or Stepanakert in search of temporary jobs and are trying not to return to their homes, where the future is not as promising as it seems in the capital cities.
"Finding an available laborer in the city of Hadrut for 3,000 drams a day is not easy," the head of Hadrut region's administration said.
The residents of the region of Hadrut were mainly engaged in growing grapes, but cultivating the vineyards during the war years was impossible. A portion of the vineyards simply perished. After the war those territories were privatized and instead of grapes, people started growing grain on those same lands.
"Now people are once again thinking about vine-growing and are planting vineyards. We already have 200 hectares of vineyards, a portion of which has already born fruit. We must increase that number to 1,000 hectares," Mr. Gevorgyan said.
Diaspora support
During the past several years, the support of the diaspora has been invaluable. With the money pledged to the Armenia Fund and the Revival of Artsakh project, works worth several million dollars have been carried out in the Hadrut region: schools, water pipes, and roads have been constructed, and other structures vital for the population have been renovated. This type of aid is very important for the population to see and believe that good works can and are being carried out. Only in this way will it be possible to bind the Armenian and the future of his or her children with the homeland, so that they will not emigrate to Armenia or overseas.
Mr. Gevorgyan admitted that for the past two to three years there has been no resettlement. "We have internal resettlement, when people move from one village to the other. Years ago it felt like there was resettlement, people used to come, but they did not come to settle here but to see how everything is. Only in Norashen and Haykavan villages did people settle. Today these are normal villages with their schools: each with 40 students," he said.
According to NKR National Statistic Services data, as of January 1, 2009, the population in the Hadrut region has increased by only 12 people compared to the data of January 1, 2008.
The north-south highway brought Hadrut closer to Stepanakert
The north-south highway, which stretches more than 160 kilometers from Hadrut to Martakert and was constructed with the pledges of all Armenians, is the most important piece of infrastructure in all of Karabakh. In the past Karabakh's regional centers communicated with Stepanakert over roads that passed through Azerbaijan. And so, in order to get from Hadrut to Stepanakert, it was necessary to travel more than 100 kilometers and pass through the Azerbaijani cities of Fizuli and Aghdam. Today's well-constructed road is only 50 kilometers long and passes entirely though the territory of Karabakh.
