Go and get your cows from the Turk. Why does a woman from Kashatagh suspect the brother of the Syunik governor’s sister of theft?

In the village of Tsaghkaber of the Kashatagh region of Artsakh, resident Margarita Alkhasyan has been trying for more than five months to understand how it happened that during the heat of the war, she managed to transfer her 28 large cattle from Tsaghkaber village to Goris without losing a single animal, only to lose all of them later at the pasture of Khnzoresk.

The mother of many children from Artsakh has already lost her main source of livelihood for several months. "I left my main source of livelihood at home. We were engaged in animal husbandry to support our family. I left 15 pigs, 70 hens, and 10 sheep at home, and today I have lost my cows, which I barely managed to bring to Syunik during those wartime days. I had 28 large cattle. Those were the most heated days of the war; I was the last to leave the village with my family. Now we are living in Goris at a relative's house. Our family was feeding on those livestock, but they were stolen; I know who did it," said Margarita Alkhasyan in an interview with Auroranews.

Ms. Margarita recounted that when they were leaving Tsaghkaber, she was with her children, who helped bring out 28 heads of livestock from the village. The father of the family was at the front lines at that time. "We were already at the Khnzoresk pasture in Syunik when I heard gunfire and decided to quickly get the kids home to Goris, where we were temporarily living. When I returned, I saw that my livestock was gone; I started searching but couldn’t find them," she said.

The next day, on October 20, Margarita returned to the pasture hoping to find at least a few of her animals; however, due to fog and adverse weather, she had to turn back home. The next day, she went out searching for the cows again, but in vain.

"Two days after the loss, I saw two of my cows being loaded into vehicles in the village of Verin Shen in Goris to be taken for sale. There were other cows, but they were not mine; they belonged to my neighbor. We took our cows back and did not allow them to take them. They were being transported by Yezidi’s vehicles, and one of them said that the cows had been sold to David Ghulunts, the son of the Syunik governor Melikset Poghosyan's sister," Margarita provided, adding that she also shared photos showing her livestock loaded onto trucks, including Niva brand vehicles, which, according to her, are linked to the livestock thieves, particularly a white Niva, which belongs to the governor’s sister's son.

Margarita expressed her belief that the cows had ultimately been sold to the Yezidis. "I couldn't check all the vehicles every time," she stated. According to Margarita, at that time the Syunik governor's squad was in Khnzoresk, driving the cows towards the village of Tegh. She herself did not personally go to the police. The police only reacted to the incident when talk of it rose in the village.

"The police told me that since I am a resident of Kashatagh, I need to apply to the police there, but at that time there was a war. It was a desperate situation, and now I don't know what to do," she noted.

When asked if she had contacted the governor's office and what response she received, our interlocutor replied, "I applied, asking for a solution to my problem. They probably discussed it, and I proved everything with photographs; however, they told me, 'You are a fraud; did you see that we are well-off? Do you want to take money from us?' That was their response, and in the end, they said, 'Go and get your cows from the Turk.'"

The Syunik governor's office did not delay in responding to the incident. In response to the woman and the publications in the press, the governor's office stated:

1. There is no formulation of 'Syunik governor's squad'; it is unclear, misleading, and can be interpreted very broadly. It is reported that during the autumn of 2020, during the war, Melikset Poghosyan ensured the participation of members of the 'Syunik Volunteer Corps' in military operations, which included numerous squads from all communities of Syunik, from Meghri to Gorayk.
2. It is excluded that Melikset Poghosyan would have been aware of any illegal act by any soldier under his command or of encroachment on a citizen’s property and would have tolerated it or that the incident would remain unaddressed.
3. We urge the concerned citizen to address the law enforcement agency instead of making unfounded assumptions and accusations, and to clarify the issue while finding the guilty parties exclusively within the framework of the law and legality.