Wanted to Kidnap My Children and Take Them to Switzerland: Village Head Details

As reported earlier, on August 20, the head of the Hatzashen community in the Aragatsotn region, Vachagan Davtyan, submitted a report to the police stating that on the same day, his ex-wife, 35-year-old Armine Ghazaryan, and her father, 62-year-old Ashot Ghazaryan, attempted to kidnap their 7-year-old and 9-year-old sons from his home.

In an interview with ArmDaily.am, Vachagan Davtyan noted that he is currently taking his sons to a psychologist due to the distress they experienced during the incident, stating, “My children do not want to see their mother and grandfather at all.”

When asked if the mother had abandoned the children, and how they ended up staying with him, Davtyan replied: “Just a few days ago, on August 7, we were supposed to go to Georgia for a vacation; it was my younger son’s birthday. On the 5th, I took her to Malatya because she had some female health issues that needed a doctor’s visit. But on the first day, we had a jealous confrontation, and I hit her a couple of times, brought her down, and we went shopping so I could come back and take her on the 7th. Starting from the 6th, I have been calling her, my children have been calling, my mother and sister have been calling, but she does not answer. I got scared thinking something had happened, so I came back to the house in Malatya, knocked on the door, and she didn’t open. I had to somehow climb in through the window of the second floor; I saw the bathroom door was locked. I opened it with a knife, and I found her standing in the bathroom with her phone video on. I asked why she wasn’t answering the calls and what she was doing, and she told me to go away, that she wasn’t coming. We had an argument, and I left.

According to the community head, after this incident, his ex-wife went to the police and filed a report against him: “She went to Malatya police and filed a report saying that I am a drug addict, that I have a virus, that I have infected her, that I have beaten her, and a lot of unfounded accusations.”

Davtyan mentioned that the reason behind his ex-wife's actions is that her father lives in Switzerland and wants her to move there with the family. “I explained to them that I cannot just leave everything and go; I am the head of the community, how can I just leave everything and get up and go? I said to be patient for a few years, we will go. I want my children to live in a developed country as well. They wanted to steal my children from the house and take them to Switzerland. I am very attached to my children, and I cannot leave them, which is why they thought they could just take the kids and I would have to get up and go,” he added. “My ex-wife is incredibly incapable; she doesn’t know how to do anything, and this has been the cause of our main arguments. For instance, the children would wake up in the morning to go to school, and they would wait at home for half an hour for their mother to wake up to give them clothes to wear and food to eat before going to school. I have been both a father and a mother to my children.”