“THE RECONSTRUCTION OF SHUSHI IS ONE OF THE CONDITIONS OF THE
SETTLEMENT OF THE ARTSAKH PROBLEM,” REPRESENTATIVES OF “SHUSHI” FUND
EMPHASIZE
YEREVAN, July 30 (Noyan Tapan). “The Artsakh problem will remain
unsettled if Shushi isn’t reconstructed,” Sevak Artsruni, Executive
Director of the “Shushi” Fund, Chairman of the “Yerkir” (“Country”)
Union, said during the July 29 press conference. Bakur Karapetian,
Co-Chairman of the Fund, stressed that if 5-6,000 refugees from
Stepanakert and Baku lived in Shushi in 1994, the population of the
town makes only 3 thousand people now. Greguar Galust, other
Co-Chairman of the Fund, a representative of the Armenian Catholic
Community of Lebanon, noticed that there is colossal difference
between Stepanakert and Shushi now. Sevak Artsruni noticed that the
purpose of the Fund is to reconstruct the town, and a special program
is being elaborated for it. According to the Executive Director of the
Fund, during his meeting with NKR President Arkady Ghoukassian the
latter reported that 100 mln dollars are necessary for the
reconstruction of Shushi. The budgets of Armenia and Karabakh can’t
allow such a sum. That’s why the Fund hopes for the Diaspora’s
support. After preparing the program on Shushi reconstruction, the
Fund will submit it to the Diaspora for the receiving of financial
support. Bakur Karapetian reported that last year 324 monuments were
registered in the territory of the town by the Fund established in
2001. Archeologists discovered 200 graves of the Bronze and the Middle
Ages in the territory of Shushi Plateau. According to Bakur
Karapetian, the researches showed that the history of Shushi goes back
to the 8th century B.C. The Fund registered, photographed and noted in
the maps above 500 monuments. The next stage includes the evaluation
of the state of monuments after which zonation will be carried out for
their preservation.