The village of Halidzor in the Goris district might turn into a ghost town. It all depends if gold is discovered in a nearby mine. Residents are nervously awaiting the results of exploratory testing that was conducted last year.
Even though Aram and Armen Stepanyan have been living in Moscow for the past twenty years, they haven’t forgotten their native village of Darbas, nestled in the picturesque Lordzor valley of Syouniq.
“It used to be a big village with a rich harvest. But now, no one pays attention to our problems. The youth have left,” says 90 year-old Moushegh Paonyan.