Like many other municipal and rural communities across Armenia, the border villages in the northeastern Tavush region have also organized festivities to celebrate the 27th anniversary of Armenia’s independence.
The village of Baghanis, located just 1km away from the border with Azerbaijan, has organized Independence Day celebrations in the local school.
The village mayor, Narek Sahakyan takes special pride in the independence. “The idea of independence is firmly rooted in our mindset, in that of children of border villages. Recently, I watched a program where a child was speaking about border villages, saying, ‘we have no right not to firmly defend our borders.’ This means, the idea of independence has also been transferred to the new generation,” he told Panorama.am.
The situation is stable in Baghanis at the moment after it faced shelling by Azerbaijani military a few days ago.
According to the mayor, the local residents have got used to the shelling sounds and continue to build the village amid shootings. “We are more worried about kids during the shootings; there are houses targeted by Azerbaijani fire in the village, but people won’t abandon them, continue to live and raise their children,” he said, stressing the importance of people living in border villages as a key support for the soldiers who defend Armenian borders.
Chinari, another border village in Tavush, was set to host major festivities to celebrate the Independence Day, but they were cancelled given the recent border tensions. “Like every year, this year as well we have visited the tombs of the fallen [servicemen] and laid flowers, but have not organized special events. Everything is v...
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