The Irish Times: For people in Nagorno Karabakh, it is world’s best place
As weddings go, Gayaneh and Avanes Grigoryan’s day out in 2008 was far more than a celebration of a union. Not because when they said “I do”, 673 other couples were exchanging the same words beside them but because by taking their vows alongside 1,346 fellow citizens of their native Nagorno Karabakh, they were declaring their love for each other – and for their country, Mary Boland writes on the website of the newspaper The Irish Times.
“I adore my homeland. The worst thing in the world will be if we will be made to leave Karabakh. I can’t breathe without Karabakh,” says Gayaneh (29) as she flicks through a magazine published to commemorate the day in October 2008. “And having children means that feeling is getting even 100 times more strong.”
Nagorno-Karabakh’s “big wedding” was organized to encourage ethnic Armenian couples to settle down and multiply. Almost seven years after the wedding, Gayaneh, now a mother of two, personifies the statelet’s nation-building strategy, Boland writes.
“It was magic . . . Everyone wore the dress she wanted,” Gayaneh reminisces. “All of the wedding dress shops were cleaned out – you had to order months in advance, or go to [Armenian capital] Yerevan. It was the same for hairdressers, nail and beauty salons . . . people worked through the night.”
In the photos, row after row of smiling couples are seated at long tables in Stepanakert’s sports stadium. Earlier in the day, they had split into groups for religious ceremonies in churches at Gandzasar and at Shushi. There are shots of beaming newlyweds posing with Levon Hayrapetyan, the Russia-based businessman and philanthropist behind the event, Boland writes.
According to the article, the population in Nagorno Karabakh has risen from 139,000 in 2008 to some 147,000 today. “My uncle was killed in the war. I was only four or five at the time, but I remember strongly two things about my childhood: I remember I was very afraid, and that there was nothing to eat. So my lottery prize is my husband and my family life,” Gayaneh Grigoryan says smiling and adds that Karabakh is the best place to be in the world.
Related:
The Irish Times: Azerbaijan threatens to shoot down any aircraft landing at NKR airport
The Calvert Journal: Dark picture painted by news headlines covering Nagorno Karabakh is forgotten once one arrives
British Journal: Nagorno Karabakh populated with Armenians could become the new wonder of world
The National Interest: Strategic advantage and favorable defensible terrain in Nagorno Karabakh are under Armenian control
Newsfeed
Videos
Artur Vanetsyan: I think you'll see me more often at various events in future
