“The Child Sees from Home How an Azerbaijani Walks in His Yard”: Shurnukh Mayor

S residents of Shurnukh village in the Syunik region have been deprived of their main livelihood—animal husbandry. Prior to the Azerbaijani aggression in 2020, each family in Shurnukh raised an average of 5 livestock, but now only 2 out of the 37 families in the village are engaged in livestock farming.

“The rest have sold their livestock because they are afraid that they will fall into the hands of the Azerbaijanis and they will be left completely empty-handed. There is no place to graze the animals. Before the war, we had grazing lands adjacent to the village that belonged to the Kashatagh region, but people rented them and used them. Now all those areas have passed to the Azerbaijanis,” Shurnukh Mayor Hakob Arshakyan said in an interview with Factinfo.

The remaining grazing areas and fields in the village are not only very far from the houses, but are also divided by forests. The mayor stated that an alternative road is now being constructed through the forest, but it is 10 kilometers away. By the time the livestock are taken to the grazing area, the forest will be damaged, and they will also face obstacles on the way.

Before the arrest of Goris Mayor Arush Arushanyan, there were intentions to renovate the cattle barn located within the village area. “We were discussing this idea with Arushanyan and had decided to build a smart cattle barn so that villagers could keep at least 1-2 livestock there to provide for their livelihoods. But now, that plan remains incomplete,” Arshakyan added.

There is no opportunity for agriculture in the village either. After the division of the village, the adjacent lands with the houses have also passed to the Azerbaijanis. The remaining lands, as Arshakyan noted, are under enemy fire: “Do you know what the situation is like? A villager is working on his land at the top of the village, and just a few meters below, there is the enemy. And our villagers whose houses have passed to the Azerbaijanis are in such a dire situation that I cannot even describe it. Imagine a child seeing from the house he now lives in how an Azerbaijani walks in his yard…”

In fact, the village, which is left without employment and sources of income, lives every day in uncertainty and waiting for something—though they do not know what that may be.

The mayor noted that various people and organizations have visited the village after the war to see how they could address the employment issues of the residents, but so far there has been no progress.

It should be mentioned that after the 2020 war, over twenty livestock belonging to the residents of Shurnukh remained in the areas that came under Azerbaijani control, which were seized by Azerbaijanis. According to the mayor, initially, families received compensation for 19 of the lost livestock. Compensation for another 11 horses, 2 large cattle, and 2 pigs has yet to be provided.