The signboard, welcomes you to the entrance of Nor (New) Aznaberd village and points out the borders of the motherland. The village evaporates and reflects the living conditions of the locals on the crossroads of both the past and the future; faded but still standing…
You enter into the village, walk several meters and start to value what you have … while you complain about not buying your favorite dress, not having the money to go on that dream vacation, or complaining about waking up at 9am every morning. Here, in this village, their worries begin as soon as the sunrises. Though they never sleep: they heavily “turn around” the whole night till the cry of Arayik’s rooster.
On November 27th 1988, Arayik and the rest of the 88 border guards left their homes, their natives’ cemeteries and their own identities on the other side of the mountain. They left the Hin (Old) Aznaberd village of Nakhidjevan and migrated to this new Nor Aznaberd village.
“The other side of the mountain” … maybe for you it’s only a small geographical description, but for Arayik, the other side of the mountain became a foggy and far away dream; a dream that clearly shows the library of the village, the kindergarten, the community with access of gas, a strong roof for winter and the greens’ “hinged” of Sonik grandma.
These people did their best to keep part of their identity here from 700 meters far away. No one can imagine how far and unavailable these 700 meters felt. The name of the village was renamed by its old name Hin Aznaberd- thus staying on the crossroad of the old and new.
Near the entrance of the village there is a picture a famous hero – Aleksan Hovsepyan, who died in 1991 in Tigranashen war. They brought a khachkar from the neighboring Martiros village and made this place a sanctuary.
In present day Nor Aznaberd, there are 24 households, however it isn’t easy. Every day is an everyday struggle for this small village to stay in existence as they are racked with poverty.
The strong roofs, flourishing agriculture, library, and kindergarten all became a memory of 80th.
Instead of solution to these problems, these people really need simple human communication, attention and care.
P.C.
Nakhidjevan was a part of Historical Armenia. The culture was very developed here and proof of that culture comes from the thousands of khachkars of Jughay’s in Armenian cemetery. During the Soviet Union period, Armenians were removed from Nakhidjevan and illegally and violently attached to the Republic of Azerbaijan.
In 1921 the Soviet Union and Turkey signed a contract in Moscow, where according to the contract, Nakhidjevan was to be attached to the Republic of Azerbaijan. From an International viewpoint this contract was illegal. Two countries surrender the area of other third country to another fourth country without taking into consideration of their opinion and participation.
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