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Knar Babayan

Karabakh Villagers Prefer to Work for Others Than Cultivate Their Own Land

This year's drought, as well as the shortage and in some cases, complete lack of water in general is causing many residents of the village of Vazgenashen in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Martouni to work for others for a daily fee instead of cultivating their own land.

Turning right from the main Stepanakert–Martouni road and passing Berdashen, we didn't encounter a soul in the morning on the dirt road that leads to the village of Vazgenashen. It was hard to distinguish from the lands at either side of the road which were wheat crops and which were pasture. The drought dried up everything.

While I was surveying the road from the car, I heard my colleague say that when his family moved from Charentsavan to this area at the end of the 90s, the place was surrounded by fruit orchards, where it was easy to disappear as a child. 

The rural community of Vazgenashen in the region of Martouni in Nagorno-Karabakh was recognized as a community only in 2001, and the first residents relocated there immediately after declaration of the ceasefire. 


The current population is 310. According to head of the medical and obstetric center Mareta Melkonyan, there were two births in the village this year and three more are expected by the end of the year, which would mean two more births this year than last year. 

A few more kilometers along the steppe and we reach the first ruins, which were turned into a barn from whatever construction material was available. The first residents of Vazgenashen were members of the Balayan family who moved from the village of Hats in the same region. 

From the 90s till today, no one has settled in this area of Vazgenashen. After the Karabakh War, the Balayans turned one of the two ruins into a barn and the other into a house. Misha Balayan has been living in that house for almost 20 years with his now elderly parents. 


Misha's wife and two small children live in the village of Hats. That which connects the Balayans to the outside world and family members living in the neighboring village are the television (they installed electricity themselves 2–3 years ago), the telephone, and the ancient Niva that's worn out on these village roads. 

"Immediately after the ceasefire, we came here with 5 sheep and 2 cows and began working in animal husbandry. Gradually, we increased [the livestock] and at one time we had about 80 cows. Now we only have 47 cows, 18 sheep, and 130 chickens and turkeys. It's been a few years that sales have been bad. We ask meat sellers in Stepanakert and Martouni for weeks on end to take our meat. We're unable to sell 15–20 bulls a year. The only good season is on the eve of new year and other holidays. Selling milk has become a problem as well. Until recently, Artsakh-Kat had a collection point in the village; we would deliver [to them, but] they closed that too. Now, in this heat, by the time you deliver the milk to the closest regional center, Martouni, it goes bad. Having no choice, we make butter, which you won't sell for more than 1,000 dram [about $2.44 USD] a kilo during the season," says Misha. 


According to the farmer, conditions in the village are favorable for breeding animals, but recently, because of the drought, both hay and water have decreased. In any case, Misha's family still has an advantageous position: they "draw water" from the stream flowing nearby. While shepherds come from the village of Avdur to Vazgenashen every day to water their flock. 

Agriculture Without Water

Apart from the drought, complicating the situation more in recent years in Artsakh has been the shortage — and in some cases, complete lack — of irrigation and drinking water. Vazgenashen is no exception. Villagers say they've never had irrigation water. And the problems with the drinking water, according to staff secretary Shahen Poghosyan, began 5 years ago. This year, 900 hectares of land yielded no crops due to the drought. 

As for drinking water, residents get water into their homes twice a day — once in the morning, for an hour, and once in the evening, for 40 minutes. And this too, according to Poghosyan, depends on how far the house is from the reservoir. 

Father of a large family, Ruben Ramazyan three years ago planted a pomegranate orchard in the land adjacent to his home. Today, Ruben, with the help of his grandchildren, waters his 610 pomegranate saplings using buckets.


"I managed to draw water from one of the nearby streams to my yard, so that at least we can develop the vegetable garden, but the water pressure is so weak that it doesn't reach the pomegranate orchard. What can I do? It’s already the second year that we've been.  watering [the orchard] using buckets; it's a pity, so the trees don't dry out," he says. 

To solve the problem, they cleaned one of the artesian wells left over from the Soviet years, but due to warming temperatures, the water again decreased. 

Because of the lack of water, a majority of villagers instead of cultivating their own land prefer to work for neighboring villagers for a daily fee. During the season, according to Poghosyan, 60–70 people work for 5,000 AMD (about $12.20) in the region's various fields and orchards.

The men of 8–9 families have gone to work abroad and some of these families decided to move from Vazgenashen to the Republic of Armenia.

Syrian-Armenians in Vazgenashen

Prior to recent events in Syria, after which a large number of Syrian-Armenians settled in the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh, 4 Syrian-Armenian families moved to Vazgenashen in the 2000s. Today only one of these families remains. One returned to Syria, while the other two, to Armenia. 

Former military officer Yesayi Juryan and his wife moved to Vazgenashen from Kessab in 2001. Yesayi recalls when he sought to settle in the homeland, for the cost of a plane ticket you could buy a house in Armenia, but he preferred to settle in lands that were fought for, in Artsakh.

Like everyone else, they also farm and breed animals. Yesayi says there was no harvest this year because of the drought, and he sold his livestock to cut his losses. After recent heart surgery, he is no longer able to do heavy work. 


"And now there's no water to at least cultivate [the land] adjacent to the house. The trees [I] planted years ago are drying out. All I have is 1 cow, 2 pigs, and 15 chickens. We make do with the income received from that; we don't complain," he says. 

Despite the difficulties, there's no talk of returning to Syria: Yesayi says that though Kessab is his birthplace, it's not in Armenia.

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