National, International, Armenia, and Community News and Opinion

The Armenian Reporter | February 28, 2009 17
Armenia
The only remaining village from Armenian Goghtn
It is worth visiting
Karchevan at least
once to see the River
Araks and eat sunripened
fruits
by Tatul Hakobyan
KARCHEVAN, Syunik Province,
Armenia – Of all the villages in
Armenia, Karchevan is the secondfarthest
from the capital city, more
than 400 kilometers. The name
Karchevan is very familiar to all
those who have crossed the Araks
River by land, traveling to Iran or
entering Christian Armenia from
the Islamic Republic. The name
Karchevan is stamped in their passports.
The village bearing the same
name, which was called Kirchavan
in the past, which means a town in
the gorge, is situated five kilometers
north of the Araks river.
Karchevan is on the border of
Armenia with Iran and also with
Nakhichevan, which was handed
to Azerbaijan in 1921 as an autonomous
republic. It is known not only
for its sweet, sun-ripened fruit,
but also for being the only village
of the historic Armenian province
of Goghtn – today called Ordubad
– still remaining within Armenia.
Nakhichevan today has almost
no autonomy. The totalitarian clan
of Vasif Talibov reigns there, with
the the support of the local Aliyev
dynasty, which rules in Baku. It
comprises three historical Armenian
regions: Goghtn, Nakhichevan,
and Sharur. In 1921, when only
10 percent of the population was
Armenian, Nakhichevan was given
to Azerbaijan; only Armenian-populated
Karchevan remained in Armenia.
By 1988, the Armenian residents
of the remaining Armenian
villages in Goghtn, Nakhichevan,
and Sharur had moved out or had
been forced to leave the autonomous
republic.
Sun-ripened fruit
typical to the region of
Meghri – pomegranate,
fig, persimmon, as
well as peach and
grapes – grow in
Karchevan.
Armen Avetisian has been the
head of the Karchevan village since
1994. “The village has a history of
more than 2,000 years,” he said.
“Today it has almost 100 homes
and 400 residents. The residents of
Karchevan are indigenous. In the
Meghri region they are famous for
being hard workers and for their
peculiar dialect, which is a little incomprehensible
at first.”
One of the few residents of
Karchevan who is not from the
village is Svetlana Papyan. She
moved here from the city of Kajaran.
She met her husband here. She is
an English-language teacher by profession;
this year she was appointed
director of the village school.
The Karchevan school, which
goes from the first through the
ninth grades, has a 132-year history
and 47 students. The school is in the
churchyard. Or perhaps the church
is in the schoolyard. The streets are
very steep and narrow. The village
hall, the kindergarten, the house
of culture, the library, and people’s
homes are very close to one another.
This situation has also had an
effect on the character of the local
Armen Avetisian.
residents; it seems as if they all live
together in a big house.
The village does not have room
to expand. If it were to expand, it
would be at the cost of the orchards.
Everything is very compact in the
village. It is surrounded by three
gorges and is very small. That is
part of what gives Karchevan its
special character.
“Forty-seven students study at
the school,” Ms. Papyan said. “We
do not have a problem with specialists;
all of our teachers have graduated
from higher education establishments
and are highly qualified
specialists. Religious instruction
is usually conducted in the church.
Our village is very developed and
the children study very hard. Our
students graduate from the secondary
school in the city of Agarak.”
The school is named after the
famous linguist Edward Aghaian,
who hailed from the village. Other
famous Armenians from Karchevan
include chess player Rafael Vahanian
and academician Artashes
Matevosian.
But the pride of the residents of
Karchevan is, of course, Garegin
Nzhdeh (Karekin Nejdeh); even
though he was born in the village
of Kznut in Nakhichevan, he
frequently visited and stayed in
Karchevan when he headed Mountainous
Armenia’s struggle against
Soviet occupiers. Whereas Armenia
became Soviet in December 1920,
Zangezur became Soviet half a year
later in July 1921.
The village head showed me a
house that belonged to Gurgen
Aghayan, member of parliament
of the first Republic of Armenia.
Nzhdeh stayed in that house when
he visited Karchevan. The most
beautiful spot in Karchevan, a
small waterfall, is located a small
distance from that house.
Karchevan is one of the few Armenian
villages, from which there
has been almost no emigration.
Just as in the Soviet years, now
too most of the villagers work at
the copper-molybdenum factory in
the city of Agarak. Agarak, which
has about 5,000 residents, was
constructed half a century ago as a
workers’ town. The city of Agarak is
also located within the territory of
Karchevan; only two years ago the
government stated that the territory
belongs to the city.
In the second half of March, the
copper-molybdenum factory in
Agarak will stop working because
of the international financial crisis.
The factory, which provided 1,450
jobs, will work only partially and
about 1,100 workers will be laid off.
“There has been almost no immigration
from Karchevan, since there
is employment. Even if they leave,
they go to Agarak, which is four kilometers
away, in order to get an
A factory in Agarak . Photos: Tatul Hakobyan for the Armenian Reporter.
The road from Agarak to Meghri. The border is on the right.
apartment. Most of the youngsters
of the village worked in the factory.
Agriculture had moved to the background.
Now that the factory is not
working, people will start working
in agriculture,” said Mr. Avetisian.
To work in agriculture, however,
land is required. There are mostly
cliffs on the banks of Araks. The
hard-working residents of Karchevan
have found the solution: they
bring soil from other places, lay it
on the rocks, and plant trees. The
same is being done in other rocky
villages in the Meghri region. Sunripened
fruit typical to the region
of Meghri – pomegranate, fig,
persimmon, as well as peach and
grapes – grow in Karchevan. The
The village of Karchevan.
fruits ripened in the Araks gorge
are the most delicious in Armenia,
as no other region receives as much
sun and warmth.
During the Soviet years the
Meghri region was linked with Yerevan
by road and railway, passing
through the territory of Nakhichevan.
Today it takes about 7–8 hours
to reach Yerevan, whereas before it
took only three because the roads
running along the bank of the
Araks to the capital city of Yerevan
and the Ararat valley were open.
“Taking our fruits to Yerevan is
very hard now. After the Karabakh
war, the distance to Yerevan has
doubled,” said Mr. Avetisian.
To say Karchevan or the Meghri
region are completely cut off from
the world would be wrong. The main
and only road going to Iran passes
through here. There are comfortable
and affordable hotels and food outlets
here. Dozens of Iranian tractor
trailers and Yerevan-Tehran buses
pass by here every day.
During the years of the Karabakh
war, when Armenia was blockaded
by three of its neighboring countries
(by doing so Turkey and
Azerbaijan were trying to strangle
newly independent Armenia, and
Georgia had been pulled into the
chaos), this road had become the
only route through which Armenia
kept its links with the outside
world.
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