THE BASIS OF A NEW RESIDENCE IS BEING LAYED...

 The land of a size of a handful, Artsakh today resembles a large construction site, unfortunately, the devastation is great, but fortunately, despair is not for our nation, otherwise the people who have endured many trials in the depths of history "dry up like a torrent in the sand" ... Sword in one hand, and a Cross in the other hand, the Armenian, still being in war in one leg, was laying stone upon stone, cleaning his ruined house. This is one of the secrets of our survival ... The guarantee of it are our many villages and towns turned into a construction site.

The other day we were in one of those construction sites ... The foundations of a new settlement are being laid in the middle of Astghashen and Patara villages of Askeran region, with hope and faith in the future. During the conversation with Yeghishe Ghahramanyan , employee of "Kapavor" LLC, we found out that apartments are being built in this area for 120 forcibly displaced families. This is only in the first stage; it is possible that it will be increased to 200 in the future. A number of public buildings are also envisaged: community hall, orchards, playground, greenhouses, etc. The deportees from Sghnakh, Jraghatsner, Moshkhmhat, Madatashen villages of Askeran region will settle here. It is planned to complete the construction of 70 apartments by the end of the year.
It turns out that E. Ghahramanyan is the mayor of Sghnakh village, who is currently taking over the responsibilities of a laborer and is following the construction process. He introduces us one by one to the volume of construction work and speaks with satisfaction about the work rhythm. In the coming days, a construction brigade of 60 people from Armenia will join them to speed up the pace and do a significant part of the task before the winter arrives. Currently, overnight conditions are being created for the builders, for that purpose the building of the old school in Astghashen is being renovated, where a canteen will operate. Residents of Khantsk, Patara and Astghashen villages, both displaced and adjacent, are involved in the construction works. The more labor there is, the faster the work will go, says the worker.
There is no shortage of building materials, deliveries are made on time, they use both local raw materials, and the tufa imported from Artik. Nothing is spared for the establishment of a new enlarged community, everyone tries to be useful in whatever way they can, but my interlocutor does not hide that their mind and thoughts are there, in their mountains, fields and deserts, and they will never reconcile with the loss, no matter how ideal the new settlement may be. They have lost their homeland; the pain is still fresh and very deep. There were 60 families living in Sghnakh village alone, the village had its own flavor, its own color, and they will try to keep it here too until one day they catch the way home.
We learned from the operator of the information center of the construction company, Davit Grigoryan, that they provide operative solutions to all the issues that arise in the process, so that there is no current outage and, as far as possible, the construction works proceed as fast as possible. When ordering building materials, he tries to order the ones with high quality; he says they will do everything to make the settlers satisfied with them. In his opinion, the majority came here not to earn, but with the consciousness of a sacred work, to support homeless people to have a roof over their heads in a short time.