SISIAN, Armenia – Nairy Filosian, the mayor of Dastakert, says he is the only one who will never leave Dastakert, even if all the residents of this semi-deserted town leave. His decision is not motivated by patriotism, it is purely economic. Mr. Filosian has work in Dastakert; he practices apiary. Objectively speaking, one would have to be extremely patriotic to stay in a town of 312 residents, which has an uncertain future, if one has no work.
Dastakert had 8000 inhabitants in the 1960s and 1970s – undoubtedly its most prosperous period. The village has been mentioned in the manuscripts of historians for many centuries. Dastakert used to be a resting place for the monks of Tatev.
In 1951, a mine for a copper foundry enterprise was founded in the locality which operated till 1973. Later, when the extortion of the ore had ended, a technical medical factory opened in Dastakert which operated till 1992 – it was later privatized and thus demolished and plundered.
People had started leaving Dastakert even before the collapse of the Soviet regime, and when the Armenian-Azeri inter-communal clashes started, the remaining Azeris, who were the main residents in the 80s, left town. In their place Armenians from Baku, Sumgait, and other Azeri areas came to town.
Sixty-year-old Galina Osipovna came to Dastakert from Baku on the December 11, 1988; she lives with her husband and has no children. She is one of the few Baku-Armenians who says that even if the opportunity presented itself, she wouldn’t return to her native city. “What is it that connects me to that city? Where would we go at this age?” she asks. The always-smiling Galina is the owner of the only shop in the city; she used to have 20 shops in Dastakert.
“In the beginning, life was difficult in Dastakert then we got used to it. Man is such a creature that he learns to live everywhere. When we first came, there were a lot of people from Baku, then everyone left for Russia; whoever had the opportunity to leave has left. The youth left first then returned to take their parents. The technical medical factory was operating when we came to Dastakert and we thought we would work and everything would be fine. But life is difficult here, we cannot even find wood for heating during the winter. The people who have stayed in Dastakert do not live, they just exist,” continued Galina.
Hakob Hakobyan from Sisian has built a little hydro electric station on the river Ayri that passes through Dastakert. There are many hydro electric stations around these areas as mountainous rivers are fast flowing. During the Soviet Union, on the Vorotan River alone, a couple of large water reservoirs and hydro stations were built. The construction of new hydroelectric stations continues even today.
The electricity generated is sold to the distributing networks. I’ve been to Dastakert many times as a child. My father used to drive the bus from Sisian to this industrial city. Once this was a flourishing town full of life,” says Mr. Hakobyan. Today Dastakert is considered to be one of the poorest cities in Armenia.
“Most of the residents, approximately 70%, are refugees. The land has not been privatized here because Dastakert as a city did not have enough land; each family merely has a croft territory of 500 square meters. There used to be 12 multi-apartment buildings which are now destroyed and non-existent. Almost 40% of the population receives state benefits, people work in the apiary, cattle-breeding, and agriculture sectors. Everyone will leave the city if the mine is not reopened. I will not leave because I have work, I work as an apiarist,” says the mayor.
If the exploration surveys are promising, then the mines would be utilized again which could restore Dastakert’s previous vigor and bring back and add to the city’s population. However, this would also be temporary, since even if the exploration practices are promising, these would conclude and shut down yet again in a couple of years time.
“It’s the second year that the explorations have been going on. If the mines are opened, not only Dastakert but also the Sisian region would start to breathe again. Njdeh is the neighboring village where gold excavation practices are being carried out and if there’s enough supply, then that mine would also open,” says mayor Filosian and emphasizes that even if the mines do not reopen, it is worth preserving Dastakert as a habitat since it is generally is very important to maintain the cross-border habitats in Armenia for security and defense reasons. On a straight line, it is 7 km from Dastakert to the Nakhhijevan border.
Translated from Persian, Dastakert is etymologized as “handmade.” The smallest city of Armenia is located on the eastern slope of the Zangezour mountain chain and is at a distance of 150 miles from the capital Yerevan. Amongst all the cities of Armenia, apartments are the cheapest in Zangezour; where a one-room apartment can be bought at $600-700.
The mining industry (the copper foundry branch) is the leading branch of Armenia’s economy today. The industry provides thousands of highly-paid jobs in Kajaran, Kapan, Agarak, Alaverdi, Akhtala, as well as in Nagorno Karabakh’s Drmbon village. The Kajaran enterprise, which pays a considerably large amount of money to the state budget, has been heading the tax payer list in Armenia for several years now. However, the mining industry has another facet; an example of which is the empty and deserted Dastakert.
The same sad destiny awaits the city of Kajaran, which was built on the bases of the mining industry just like Dastakert. What kind of work would the thousands of people in Kajaran engage in after the mines are shut down? Currently, it is frequently discussed that the Teghoud mine would provide around 2000 jobs in the coming decades. What about later? Aren’t the ecologists right when they say that the Teghoud vicinity would turn into a dead zone after the mines are shut down?
Dastakert has turned into an almost uninhabited area after the mines were shut down.
“We will ask the diasporan businessmen to set up a small production in Dastakert if possible, and the municipality would help as much as possible and would save them from paying taxes,” said the mayor before bidding farewell.
by Tatul Hakobyan
This article first was published in July 2008 in THE ARMENIAN REPORTER
