86 year-old Hovhannes Manoogian, from America, has been living in Armenia for the past 8 years. His wife has remained in the States along with their four sons.

On April 24, 2004, Hovhannes purchased a plot of land near the village of Griboyedov in Armavir province.

Ever since then, Hovhannes only sees his family when he returns for the winter.

"They all complain that I moved here. They keep asking why did I leave my wife, four sons and eleven grandchildren back in the States. They say that eight years is enough already and that my grandchildren have no clue about their grandfather in Armenia," says Hovhannes.

All the sisters and brothers of his father and mother were killed in the Genocide. Hovhannes is the elder son. He grew up in Lebanon. He says the family was poor and that he only attended school with financial aid.

Hovhannes attended the Apkarian High School in Lebanon and later the Mkhitarist College, followed by the Armenian Catholic school. He then worked with his father as an ironmonger.

Mr. Manoogian says he decided to get an education because he would be of no help to the family as a common laborer.

He pursued his education at the Nshan Palanjian Jemaran and later became a professional engineer-surveyor who went on to draw maps for the irrigation system of salt fields in Iraq. He was the top engineer working with international companies in Iraq and Iran.

In 1960 he returned to Beirut since the Lebanese government was looking for top quality professionals like himself. He was then appointed the chief engineer for the Lebanese road construction program.

When the Lebanese civil war broke out in 1975, he relocated the family to the United States.

Hovhannes says that the rest of his family have reached positions of respectability in American society and have no intention of moving to Armenia.

His eldest son Rosdom is an electrical engineer that is responsible for pensioner homes in the States. Raffi, his second son, is a member of the Glendale city council and was elected mayor of the town a few times. Glendale and Kapan became sister cities during Raffi’s tenure as mayor. His number three son Razmig is a civil engineer and Nigol, the youngest, is an attorney.

"No one can fathom why I came here, especially at my advanced age, when I could have lived like a king back there," Hovhannes confesses.

Hovhannes told me that his moving to Armenia was the fulfillment of a promise he made to his teachers at Palanjian Jenmaran.

"They always wanted to relocate to Armenia but it was impossible for them during the Soviet era because they were political people. So they urged their students to move to Armenia when it became possible in the future," says Mr. Manoogian.

"I remembered their words to us students and when I turned 70 the idea hit me to relocate. The nation educated me and made me what I am. I would have a pang of conscience if I didn’t carry out my obligation to those people," says Hovhannes.

He has willed his land in Griboyedov to the Hamazkain Cultural Union, a group affiliated with the ARF. Hovhannes says he was born a Tashnak and will die as one. Nevertheless, he exclaims that Armenia must be above partisan part politics.

Back during the Soviet era, Hovhannes Manoogian’s 109 hectare plot was one of Armenia’s largest pig farms. Every month it would send 30,000 to Russia. Today, only five of the sheds remain standing.

The sheds in Hovhannes Manoogian’s plot

Hovhannes says he purchased the land to plant wheat to send to the freedom fighters in Artsakh if war were to break out again. He proudly relates that the first harvest netted 33 tons of wheat but that it was all stolen by the workers.

He planted clover for the next six years and sold it to the villagers as livestock feed. Today, he leases the land to local villagers in plots ranging from 2 to 20 hectares. He says that farming is much more productive on larger plots that local residents just don’t have.

Unfortunately, the harvest of the various crops grown on the land hasn’t been good this year. Hovhannes plans to sow clover once again.

"Sadly, villagers are hit with taxes and penalties. They can’t work the land like it should be. The people of Armenia have a right to live and eat. The downtrodden villager goes hungry. And a hungry people will go to any lengths. They’ll leave the country en masse. The government has to step in and facilitate conditions favorable to the common folk. Instead, the government hits them with even more taxes. A hungry person can’t pay taxes, " says an irate Hovhannes.

A few years back, Hovhannes received some hate mail allegedly signed by 123 residents of adjacent villages. The disparaging letter, also sent to the prime minister, demanded that the sheds and fields owned by diaspora Armenia be handed over to local villagers for a period of five years.

The mysterious poison letter wasn’t signed nor stamped, leading Hovhannes to conclude that it was written by one person with a personal grudge or some other underlying motive to besmirch his good name.

Hovhannes says nothing ever came of the letter and that he never heard from the prime minister. He told me he never went to the courts to resolve this and other issues that have cropped up during his stay in Armenia.

Today, Hovhannes is working on his autobiography entitles "My Life".

"I can sincerely say that my life has been a topsy-turvy and complex affair. I can’t fit it all into just one volume. I will write it all down, including my time in Armenia. I will be portray the country objectively so that future generations will be better prepared. If things continue as they are, the country is heading for a fall."

Hovhannes has also written four volumes of poetry under the pen-name Alakyaz.