Talish villagers tell why they cannot return home

The announced by the Karabakh authorities return of Talish villagers, evacuated during the 2016 April war, by September 1, is postponed, since the restoration of their houses destroyed by bombardments has not been completed yet.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that during April of 2016, the village of Talish in the Martakert District of Nagorno-Karabakh was shelled by artillery: the school, kindergarten, hospital, administration building and about one third of the dwelling houses were destroyed. In December 2016, the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh jointly with "Ayastan" All-Armenian Fund began restoring the village. They promised to rebuild the school, the kindergarten and the damaged houses by September 1, 2018.

Vilen Petrosyan, the head of the Talish community, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that most villagers are ready to return to Talish, if all of them are provided with normal housing and life in the village is safe.

"Now only those families can return home, who need neither school nor kindergarten, that is, adult villagers. To ensure the normal school operation, all teachers should return to their homes. Some teachers have not yet their houses built. But there's again the security issue, because families with children are afraid to return," Mr Petrosyan said.

Fedya Apresyan, a former Talish resident, lives in Alashan and works as a military instructor at a local school. He cannot imagine his return to Talish, until he has some home there. The village should be restored completely, so that all the villagers could return there, he believes.

"When all the families are provided with housing, then it is necessary to organize a collective and simultaneous move from Alashan to Talish. I believe that it can be done only in this way," the man told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 31, 2018 at 10:55 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.