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In Hartashen, No Water and No Carousel [October 23, 2006] This year's drought has brought the residents of Hartashen to their knees. There is no irrigation water in the village or its surroundings. People here have to buy produce that could have been grown in their own fields, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, and watermelons. But this doesn't mean that villagers don't cultivate anything else. They do, hoping for rain, but there is no rain. But how do they buy anything if there are no crops from their fields? They spend the pensions of the elderly and war veterans. Seryozha Badalyan was twice wounded during the war; he has a second-degree disability. He is one of the few whose disabled status corresponds to reality. 47-year-old Albert Khachiyan is third- degree disabled; he receives a 23,000-dram pension. These days, the freedom fighter adds up his income and expenses, but is unable to put an equal sign between them. "The main work is in the fields; there is no other work, but either there is no water or the weather is dry," said 41-year-old Razmik Sargsyan, adding that they are planting wheat and hopefully it will grow. Razmik is a refugee. He has no money. His words echo those of the other villagers, who barter wheat for other crops. For example, one kilo of watermelon or tomatoes costs two kilos of wheat. The village has only 25 families, while eight years ago there were 125. Hartashen villagers do not ask for much; all they want is irrigation and drinking water. They say, Give us water and we will do the rest. The village youth aren't in the mood to talk; their issues are raised by the older generation instead. "My son came from the army and now wants to leave. For four years we fought, and there is no place for the youth to play backgammon in winter, " said Seryozha Badalyan.
In the summer the villagers gather in the center of the village where the only source of water is located. They carry water from the barely working source with donkeys, plastic bottles, and pots. The water can hardly be qualified as drinking water, but the villagers drink it. They have no choice. "It's marsh water mixed with chlorine, " said the head of the village administration. The villagers have running water for only an hour a day. "They give the water for one hour to one district, and then for one hour to another district, “ explained Khanum Abrahamyan, one of the old women sitting in the center of the village. "Sometimes we don't have water for one month; we don't get even 100 liters of water," the village head admitted. Ten-year-old Gayane has never been away from the village. She knows that life is different on the outside, but has only a vague picture of it. "Outside the village there are fruits, and the houses are beautiful, " she said and dreamt of a carousel in her village. When we asked her where she saw one, she replied, " I haven't seen one, but I would like one." Unanswered questions"No transport comes here; it's the last village," said Roman Khazaryan, head of the nearby Kyuratagh village administration. The road that runs southeast from Hadrut ends in this village. From here there is a ten-kilometer road to Fizuli, which is paved with asphalt in some places. The road from Hadrut to Kyuratagh is almost completely impassible, but the village head says that their main problem is the internal water supply. There is irrigation water. "I promised to bring irrigation water for gardens and I brought it. I promised to renovate the walls in the club and I did it. Whatever I promised, I did, " said the village head, when we asked him how he had managed to be reelected.
Roman Khazaryan was first elected head of the village administration in 2001. Not then, nor in 2004 did he promise to renovate the road that goes to the village. It's beyond his abilities. It is hard to collect taxes, because all sales are transacted through bartering. It's not possible to go to Stepanakert; the villagers have to pay 15-20,000 drams to transport their produce to the capital. The issue of drinking water is solved by donkeys that carry water in pots from the nearby water source. This happens every day. Today 309 people live in Kyuratagh. This year there were four births. Before Karabakh's independence, 256 people lived in Kyuratagh. The population increased thanks to refugees. The village head is also a refugee, from Fizuli. All the houses in the village are old. No one has tried to renovate their houses in recent years; they only removed the traces of war. The village mayor joyfully describes the facilities that exist to provide entertainment in the village- a library and a club, where, in his words, there is a half-ruined ping-pong table. Besides complaining about the lack of water, villagers also complain about the absence of Armenian TV channels. They mainly watch Azerbaijani channels and H1's satellite program. In Kyuratagh and in the four neighboring villages people cannot tune into programs from Armenia or Artsakh. They get the latest news on the Karabakh peace negotiations from Azerbaijani TV channels. "Can't the government install a broadcasting station, so that we don't have to watch Turkish TV? " asked father of three Armen Alexanyan. His question, like so many others, remains unanswered. Mher Arshakyan |
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