Residents of Tyak village criticize NKR authorities

To make the village of Tyak, declared to be a historical and cultural reserve, attractive for tourists, a special state programme and capital investments are needed, the villagers believe. According to their version, authorities are doing nothing for the development of the village.

In March 2017, the village of Tyak in the Gadrut District of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), where residential buildings of the 19th century were preserved, received the status of a historical and cultural reserve. The NKR authorities declared that the village would become a part of the tourist route.

Oksana Martirosyan, a member of the Council of Elders of the Gadrut City from the village of Tyak, believes that a special programme is needed for the development of the village.

"The village is unique in that the old architecture of late 12th-19th centuries is here, but basically all of it is abandoned and destroyed," she said.

According to her story, tourists rarely come here, "2-3 people a week at the best."

Ms Martirosyan believes that "the village needs to be inhabited by young families; they should be helped in repairing their houses; and jobs should be created for them."

"Before the Karabakh war, many people lived here, but all of them then moved to cities. Old people are dying, and their empty houses are being destroyed," Ms Martirosyan has explained.