BARBED WIRE FENCE DIVIDING TWO NEIGHBORS
Hurriyet
Dec 4 2008
Turkey
YEREVAN – Despite diplomatic relations picking up in recent months
with President Gul’s visit to Yerevan, the border between Armenia and
Turkey remains closed. People that remember once breakfasting in Turkey
and lunching in Armenia, now have a barbed wire fence cutting them off
There is a lake between Turkey and Armenia that separates the
two countries. The Armenians call it "Aghuryan," and the Turks,
"Arpacay." The lake is so fertile it is swarming with fish. Neither
Armenians nor Turks can fish in the lake. Just 20 minutes from the
lake, barbed wire splits a railroad in two.
It is just one segment of the immense railway that stretches through
Armenia to Turkey. The entrance to Haygazsor Village at the north
of the lake is under the control of Russian and Armenian soldiers. A
sharp lookout is kept at the border of the village. It is forbidden
for an ordinary Armenian to enter the church of the village, even
for the Sunday service. The only way to attend the service is with
special permission to enter the village.
Before sunrise, in a cab driven by a Mr. Suren, we hit the road for
Gyumri, the closest border point to Turkey and the second biggest
city in Armenia. We spoke with Mr. Suren throughout the journey and
occasionally stopped at villages to speak to villagers. We were told
by 90 percent of villagers that they escaped from various cities
and towns of Anatolia, especially Kars, during the events of 1915,
to Armenia, which was then under Soviet rule.
The Armenian language they speak has an Anatolian accent. Every village
has its own special dialect. Because of this, it is sometimes hard
for people in neighbouring villages to understand each other. The
villages are no different from typical Anatolian villages and neither
are the villagers. They have named the places they live in after the
towns and cities in Anatolia they migrated from. Nearly all of the
villagers understand Turkish, even if they do not speak it.
Protecting the churches The major problem these villagers face is
the regular supply of water. While Yerevan, the extremely modern
and European looking capital of Armenia, is only 40 minutes away,
these villages are still without pipes. The villagers also face great
difficulties when the temperature drops below -40 degrees during
winter. Heating is as much of a problem as water.
We traveled from Yerevan to Gyumri in just over two hours in fits
and starts. The first stop for the Hurriyet Daily News was at a
journalist’s club in Gyumri called Asparez. Without delay, we continued
on to the border with the club president, Levon Barsexyan. Along
the way Barsexyan acquainted us with the city. He told about the
one storey houses built precaution to Gyumri’s location on a fault
line. Barsexyan said the streets and houses in Gyumri were similar
to those in Kars. "The Armenians migrated from Kars to Gyumri and
brought their lifestyle with them to this city."
Barsexyan’s grandfather was born in Kars. Before the closing of the
border, they used to go to Kars for breakfast and be back in Gyumri
for lunch. According to Barsexyan, the Soviet rulers demanded the
demolition of the churches of Gyumri but the people cleverly built
tall buildings around the churches, hiding the churches in within the
buildings courtyards. They saved many thousand-year-old churches from
demolition this way. When the Republic of Armenia gained independence
after the fall of the Soviet Union, the tall buildings were demolished
and the churches were visible once more.
During Soviet rule, Gyumri was called "Leninagan," in homage to
Lenin. Barsexyan said the city was now known by both names. There
are still visible traces in the village of the 1988 earthquake. We
walked around Gyumri under Barsexyan’s guide and reached the border
with Turkey.
Barsexyan warned us to hide our cameras as a precaution as we
approached the barbed wire. A few minutes later, we passed down the
road, walking along the railway line, half of which extends into
Turkey. We reached the border between the two countries, and looking
through the mesh of barbed wire, I gazed upon the country of my birth,
before rounding up my week long trip to Armenia.