PEOPLE WITH SPIRITUAL TIES TO LAND ARE SATISFIED AND DO NOT COMPLAIN OF HARDSHIP
KarabakhOpen
01-04-2008 12:11:12
"Let me see, will she recognize me? She does!" started our talk Alexan
Hakobyan, with the cat snuggling up to his feet. The same cat which
was his friend when he was the head of the administration of Kashatagh
for 10 years.
We have met Alexan Hakobyan for a number of times when he was the
governor of the region, where in 8 years he settled 12 thousand people
in villages without electricity and gas. Over 80 abandoned settlements
turned into villages. He not only dealt with administrative issues,
solving them in the poor region on the basis of rights, morality, laws,
but also being a scientist, he spent his spare time on excavations
of historical monuments, studied them, wrote.
Four years ago he was dismissed. It would be clear if they said 10
years is a long time, and rotation is necessary. However, a person
replaced him who "managed" to decrease the population of the region by
4 thousand within 3 years. It is true that his tenure overlapped with
elimination of allowances for settlers but the people of Kashatagh
who had to leave said they left not because they had no allowances
any more but because of unfair treatment they get.
On these days a conference was held in Berdzor devoted to the
development of Kashatagh. It was noted that for the first time over
the past four years growth of population was reported – 8700 people
live in the region now.
Addressing the conference, President Bako Sahakyan criticized the
administration of the region, and not only the region, noting that
regress in the development of the region is due to mistakes in
governance and a wrong policy. However, as always, nobody claimed
responsible for the mistakes.
The sign that the Karabakh government admits it mistakes of past
years was the invitation of Alexan Hakobyan to the conference. In
an interview with Karabakh-Open.com Alexan Hakobyan commended
the initiative of this conference. "Actually, the government
cannot undertake such hard work alone, it needs the assistance of
non-governmental organizations. Especially that we had to start from
zero," said Hakobyan.
"With three or four years of intensive efforts it is possible to
raise the level of development of Kashatagh to the average level of
Karabakh. I mean the material aspect. However, I think, the spiritual
and cultural climate is more important. Without a normal spiritual
climate any effort will be doomed to failure. It also includes the
attitude toward monuments and churches. Now there are three churches
in the region and only one priest. I think it is not helpful to
establishing a spiritual tie between people and the land. Meanwhile,
people with spiritual ties to land are satisfied and do not complain
of hardship," said Alexan Hakobyan.
"This country is rich in monuments. In a couple of years after
settlement we set up a museum where still hundreds of exhibits,
evidence to the ancient history of this country, are displayed. We
also created the relief map where one can find mounts, rivers,
historical and cultural monuments, churches, graveyards, bridges,
there are also Muslim monuments from the Turkmen period," said Alexan
Hakobyan, the author of a number of scientific books and articles.
There are 14 preserved churches in Kashatagh. Another 15 are
half-ruined.
The fundament of about 20 buildings and crypts, 34 graveyards and
separate khachkars have been preserved. The first lithographs on
tombstones date from the 4th century. The oldest Armenian lithograph
on a khachkar dates back to 1768 and is in the village of Gokhtanik.