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THEY WILL NEVER RETURN
[12:21 pm] 04 July, 2007

Azatamut settlement in Tavush Marz has recently got the status of a
village. Azatamut once had a plant producing building-material and an
artel. The product was exported to Russia and brought great income to
the settlement. Over 90% of the residents became unemployed. Only the
village school and kindergarten work today.

The male usually leave for Russia and abroad in search of better job
opportunities. They return in autumn or winter. The female stay
indoors and get bored with idleness. `Azatamut is not a place to live
in. The residents abandon the village in the course of time. And I
doubt whether they will ever come back,’ says Ms Piruza.

Though the village is gasified, most of the residents heat their
houses with wood as they cannot afford gas expenses.

`I graduated from the faculty of history. I am unemployed as I don’t
know what to do. The youth have become nervous and irritated as they
wander in the streets all day long doing nothing,’ says Gagik.

`We are cut off the outer world. Sometimes we go to the city of Ijevan
to participate in cultural life and to keep abreast with the current
events,’ points out Anahit.

The village doesn’t have arable lands either, therefore people mainly
breed cattle.