ReliefWeb (press release), Switzerland
Jan 15 2009

Armenia may struggle to repopulate border areas
Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)

Date: 15 Jan 2009

Former residents of war-damaged region offered compensation, but
reluctant to return because of security concerns.

By Gegham Vardanian and Gayane Mkrtchian in Yerevan, Chinari and
Nerkin Karmraghbiur (CRS No. 476, 15-Jan-09)

The Armenian government has finally stepped in to help citizens forced
out of villages by Azerbaijan’s bombing during the 1992-4 conflict to
return.

But the villagers, whose homes are close to the volatile border with
Azerbaijan, say without security the proposed package of compensation
could prove useless.

Under the scheme, owners of destroyed houses in villages like Chinari
– which is almost on the border itself – would receive 7,700 US
dollars to help them restore their homes, as well as money for tools,
transport and general expenses.

The government is confident that the almost 40 million dollars
committed to the plans will entice the villagers home, and once again
populate the semi-deserted territory.

This would be good news for Chinari, except that the two sides have
still not come to a peace settlement and the village still comes under
fire on a regular basis. Residents doubt their displaced neighbours
would come home even with the money.

"When I ask the children whether they’d like to live in another place,
they always say their village would be the best in the world, if only
there was no shooting," said Gyozal Hovakimian, teacher of the
youngest classes in the village school.

The two countries fought over the enclave of Nagorny Karabakh, which
is mainly inhabited by Armenians. The territory proclaimed itself an
independent state in 1991, but is unrecognised internationally and
only linked to the outside world via Armenia. Fourteen years after a
ceasefire was agreed, its defiance still prevents a thawing of
relations between Yerevan and Baku.

The Azerbaijan army’s positions are just on the other side of the
valley from Chinari, and its guns control 90 per cent of the
residents’ land. Just in June, a sniper killed a young man there,
prompting three more families to leave, and local officials say it has
been targeted by heavy machine guns 30 times in the last six weeks.

Hovakimian just shook her head when told about the government’s plans
to return residents to Chinari, where a third of the houses are in
ruins.

"They should come and ask us, we don’t want money. If the situation
just got a bit better, and there was no shooting, then people would
stay here. We can earn money for ourselves," she said.

Although her school has 170 pupils, half of the village’s inhabited
houses are home only to pensioners. Many young families have left for
a more secure life elsewhere, and Samvel Saghoian, the head of the
village administration, said money would not be enough to entice them
back to the half-deserted village.

With the nursery school overlooked by Azeri positions, people just do
not feel that the village is a secure place to raise children.

"People left for only one reason ` because of the shooting. They
didn’t live badly, but the children had no future," he said.

His is a viewpoint heard in villages throughout this north-eastern
part of Armenia. In Nerkin Karmraghbiur, which is around 700 metres
from the border, many houses are similarly damaged by the legacy of
artillery fire.

"In 1992, three shells hit our house at once. We could not save any of
our property, except a chair, and even that has not survived," said
Asmarik Ebijian, a former resident of the village.

She said her family had tried to repair the house, and even received
government money to help with the roof. But, in a sign of the
difficulties Armenia will face in repopulating its frontier zones, the
Ebijian family gave up the struggle six years ago and left for
Yerevan, where its members could be assured of a better life.

"My husband drives a minibus, my daughters study, and I come here for
nine days a month to look after the garden," she said.

She hoped that after her daughters get married, she and her husband
could return home and live as they did before.

"And if they help us with the repairs, then that’s even better," she
added with a smile.

But local officials said people like her may have an unrealistic view
of how easy it is to live in Nerkin Karmraghbiur, where 17 residents
were killed in the war by artillery, and 30 families abandoned their
homes.

Henrik Galstian, who teaches the village’s 136 children history, said
many of his pupils want a good education only so they can leave and
find work and security in the cities. They do not see a future for
themselves in the little village.

"Financial help is of course necessary, but the most important thing
is security and peace," he said.

The government adopted the resettlement plan in September last year,
but does not yet have the 38.52 million dollars it needs to fund
it. It is currently appealing to international donors, including the
United Nations, for help.

Some officials wonder how much of the money will actually be
needed. According to Gagik Eganian, head of the migration service, as
many as 26,000 of the refugees from the border areas may have already
left the country and are unlikely to return.

"Exactly 2,604 of the displaced people remaining in the country have
expressed a desire to return to their previous places of habitation,
if the necessary support is provided," he said.

Gayane Mkrtchian is a correspondent from the Armenianow weekly, and
Gegham Vardanian is editor of the website.

0SID/VDUX-7NBMTU?OpenDocument