Azerbaijanis Abducted Our Shepherd, Pulled Him, Struck Him in the Eye: Aravus Village Head

The village of Aravus in the Syunik province has more than 170 residents who have been deprived of safety, jobs, and access to their own pasturelands. Following the trilateral statement on November 9, Azerbaijan has maintained control over 63 hectares of the community's land. The remaining parts of the village now face protection issues.

Community head Argam Hovsepyan informed “Factinfo” that the village is defended by conscripts, but they have applied to form a militia and acquire weapons to help safeguard the border alongside soldiers, although their request has been denied. “We asked the higher authorities to include my detachment, consisting of 33 boys, to be registered and obtain lawful weapons to protect our village. Their 13 posts have our village’s brigade 2 kilometers back. There are no militia members, only conscripts. Our request was denied for personal reasons, the details of which I do not know. We are in a highly dangerous border zone, and for this reason, I have been asking for 4 months to include us in the defense of the state border to protect our village and homes,” he stated.

The community head expressed that they will continue to feel at risk until militia members are integrated. They do not doubt the strength of the soldiers and the army, confident that they will reclaim what has been lost, but they urgently need militia for comprehensive protection. “Our army is strong, but right now they are few. What are we doing, are we hindering them? Perhaps that is why we are not being included. There are 40 people at every Azerbaijani post, while there are 7 at ours,” he added.

Hovsepyan mentioned that the Azerbaijanis are aware of the strength of the Aravus residents, and as he describes, they keep their composure; however, just days ago, the Azerbaijanis pulled one of their shepherds, who hadn’t even crossed into their territory. “Two days ago, they captured our shepherd, pulled him, and struck him in the eye. The shepherd was standing just 15 meters from their post, on our land. Our boys ran over with weapons, and they dropped the shepherd and fled. Our shepherd was standing at the last point of our land, checking his GPS; the shepherd was told to ‘stay 100 meters away.’ That 100 meters has turned into a situation where we cannot even guard our livestock,” he asserted.

The positions of Aravus are located 100, 200, 450, and 500 meters behind the Azerbaijani observation post. Meanwhile, herders who take their animals out to graze stand merely a meter away from the enemy. Currently, only 25-30 hectares of rocky pastureland are left in the village. Residents have already sold dozens of large and small livestock due to lack of grazing land. “All the livestock is sold, some even given away for free. We have no pasture. According to our village ownership certificate, our 63 hectares of sown land is currently in the hands of the Azerbaijanis. They returned it to us using GPS coordinates, but I do not know why. We are a small village, consisting of 40 households with 178 residents, and this is a significant issue. It is not like one can say that 62 hectares means anything in Yerevan,” concluded Argam Hovsepyan.