Published since 07.2002
Published on July 18, 2008
LIBERATED BUT NOT REBUILT: SHUSHI NEEDS $MILLIONS TO RECLAIM NATIONAL GLORY
- While the Armenian idea is hidden across Ararat in the west, it is 400 kilometers to the east of the biblical mountain where the sun of the nation’s prospects rises. The extinguished volcano cannot be seen from Shushi, in Nagorno-Karabakh, but still it is this town that is undoubtedly the main indicator of the Armenian idea today. The white pointed dome of the Saint Ghazanchetsots church pierces the azure of the Karabakh sky and beckons Armenians who seek communion. All roads in Shushi since recent times have led to the cathedral. And a Sunday liturgy with sanctification of bread and wine is an epicenter of the spread of life-asserting impulses of the symbol of Karabakh delivered from the 70-year Turkic yoke. Here, a priest stands in the place where some 17-18 years ago Alazani shells were arranged to be used to bomb Stepanakert, Berdadzor and Karintak. Saint Ghazanchetsots, which was turned by Azeris into a weapon and ammunition depot, is a spiritual arsenal of the Armenian people today. Varduhi Hakobjanyan sells candles in the church vestibule. She returned to her native Karabakh in the midst of the war: “For many years our family lived in Chechnya. My children were born in Grozny. The Azeri aggression made my husband return to Karabakh and join the volunteer groups. We went over to Martakert. It was there that Robert died in one of the battles. At the moment of his death our son was 10 and daughter did not go to school yet. Today, they are adults…We will not leave Shushi. The memory of my husband obliges us to live in this liberated town.” But do many think the same way today? While as of August 1, 1992 the population of Shushi was 4,500, then in 2004 (the latest count) it fluctuated between 3,100-3,200. Head of the Department for Refugee, Migration and Resettlement Affairs attached to the NKR Government Serzh Amirkhanyan says the town is capable of having about 10,000 residents, “however we alone cannot ensure that.” The budget of Shushi, which until recently was $80,000, reflected the value of the Armenian dream. This dream was in fact worth a one-room apartment in downtown Yerevan. For 16 years the nation has not revealed its capability to build a town of the Armenian idea. Shushi today is begging alms before the eyes of the whole world community. The Armenian nation cannot collect $25-30 million needed for building a modern town with a population of 10,000. And the problem is not in money, of course, it is in the Idea that was really left across the mountain… While the search for an ark is continuing on the slopes of Ararat, the Armenian nation needs to be building another ark, this time 400 kilometers to the east of the mountain. Armine Nersisyan, lives and creates in her native town with great faith. The author of wonderful poems about peace, land, a weeping willow - a mourning mother who lost her son during the war, she has already gained recognition in the literary circles of Karabakh. The father of the girl, Aramayis, was an active participant of the defense of Karabakh, a second-category disabled. His wife Aregnazan warred along with him in the same detachment. “Shushi is the crown of Karabakh,” she says. “To live and bring up children here is a special mission. A person deprived of the sense of being part of something lofty and historical is unlikely to understand me. To be called a Shushi resident is a great honor. And it was for this right that the liberation of the town was undertaken in May 1992.” Today’s Shushi is obviously the most contrast populated area of the Armenian land. The triumph of the national spirit roves here along poor streets and begs alms on the shield of the victor. In no other city or town of the Homeland has the spiritual immunity of the population soared so high as here, and not fallen so low materially… The current state of Shushi is the most vulnerable point of Armenian diplomacy. Against the background of the general and evident economic growth in Karabakh, the improper appearance of Shushi, of course, asks for a political answer. A question arises: Why hasn’t the town been built for 16 years? Wasn’t it because Shushi (along with Berdzor/Lachin) has always been mentioned as a separate point in the negotiating process? Still four years ago, the then Prime Minister of the NKR Anushavan Danielyan stated: “The current generation of the Armenian people has a mission not only of liberating Shushi, but also rebuilding it. It is necessary to draw the whole national potential to this problem… Shushi should have about 7-10,000 residents and function first of all as a good resort. For this a sum of about $30-35 million is needed. With this capital made available, the work can be completed within 4-5 years.” Four or five years later, there is no good resort yet. Though, it is this period during which Yerevan was turned into one big construction site and the number of buildings put into operation several times exceeded the modest scale of urban development needed for Shushi. An Armenian government delegation was on a working visit to the NKR on July 4-5. A wide range of issues on cooperation between the NKR and Armenia were discussed in Stepanakert. The “Shushi issue”, many here hope, will be paid more attention to after this visit.
- Aris Ghazinyan
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Today in Armenian history- 1894 Birth of Vahan Totovents (writer). He was murdered by the Soviet Secret Police in 1937.
- 1914 The Central Committees of Taron and Sassoon present the reform program to three embassies in Constantinople.
- 1938 Birth of Perch Zeytuntsyan (playwright) in Cairo (Egypt).
- 1988 The USSR Supreme Soviet, relies on Article 78 of the Soviet Constitution (prohibition of any territorial changes to a Union Republic without its consent) to deny the 1988 02 20 petition by the Autonomous Region of Nagorno Gharabagh to rejoin Armenia.
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