The Star: Nagorno Karabakh stakes its future on babies
Nagorno Karabakh’s “big wedding” — involving nearly 700 couples — was organized to encourage population growth. When Gayaneh and Avanes Grigoryan said “I do,” they were declaring far more than their love for each other. By taking their vows simultaneously with some 1,300 fellow citizens of Nagorno Karabakh, they were also making a strong statement of devotion and fidelity to their homeland, Mary Boland writes in an article titled ''Unrecognized republic Nagorno-Karabakh stakes its future on babies'' published on online edition of The Star.
''I’m a great patriot. I adore my homeland. The worst thing in the world will be if we will be made to leave Karabakh,'' Gayaneh says.
The author writes that sandwiched between the former Soviet states of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the de facto autonomous statelet is run by ethnic Armenians.
Almost seven years after the wedding, Gayaneh, now a mother of two, personifies the enclave’s nation-building strategy. Sitting in her living room in the capital, Stepanakert, she shows her 5-year-old son, Valerie, the magazine photographs of his parents as bride and groom. She works in a government ministry and is on leave following the birth of Tigran, now 17 months old. Her husband Avanes is too shy to feature in a newspaper, and has disappeared for the afternoon.
As the article has it, in the photos, rows of smiling couples are seated at long tables in Stepanakert’s sports stadium, destroyed during the 1991-94 war and rebuilt for the occasion. Newlyweds pose with Levon Hayrapetyan, who is behind the many projects aimed at helping the region’s struggling economy.
''Hayrapetyan offered $2,000 to each pair to marry, and a further $2,000 on the birth of their first child. The scale increases right up to $100,000 for child number seven, and locals say couples who have twins will get an apartment. Those living in rural areas received a cow. The payments are in addition to lower grants from the government, available to everyone, to marry and have children,'' the author highlights. The population has since risen — from 139,000 in 2008 to some 147,000 today.
The article also reads that Nagorno Karabakh holds elections and has a national flag, a government with a full complement of ministries, universities and public institutions. It also has a $20-million airport that boasts the latest technology and 120 full-time staff — but sits idle due to threats by Azerbaijan to shoot down aircraft.
“Our primary goal is to be integrated into the civilized and international community,” de facto president Bako Sahakyan says.
Whether Gayaneh and Avanes would like to continue to have children, and perhaps even hit the $100,000 jackpot, is complicated by the conflict with Azerbaijan. “Some people say maybe, in some part of the world, there are places where life is easy and there is no danger of war. It doesn’t matter. The best place to be is Karabakh,” she said.
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