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Vazashen village, located north-east of Ijevan town in the northern part of Armenia, runs its daily routine under the adversary’s constant gunfire, staying on the verge of war and peace.

With around 8000 population the settlement faces number of problems with severe social-economic situation and growing migration, among other things. The village household size has decreased by 40 percent with only 180 remaining households to compare with 370 of the 1990s. Due to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the village lands were left on the other side of the border. In total 160 hectares of out of 1650 are in possession of the farmers unable to harvest there with nearby Azerbaijani army positions overlooking their lands.

Vazashen Mayor Lorik Badiryan said the village economy boosted during the Soviet years, becoming one of the most developed in the region, while today the villagers are hardly engaged with any agricultural activity. 

“Our situation is complex and continues worsening to compare with other villages. I refrain from raising many pressing topics given the 'no war no peace' situation. I am even unsure whether I do right to not voice our problems that cost us much,” Badiryna told reporters who visited the village.

In his words, continuing gunfire have remained a regular occurrence in the village. On September 7, the adversary targeted the village school. “When firing starts, people do not send children to school, instead pack their bags,” the mayor said.

Azerbaijanis entered Vazashenon at dawn of December 29, 1992, slaughtering and mutilating the sleeping population During the war Vazashen residents heroically defended their homeland. Since then, starting from 1993, large scale migration took root in the village.
“The tragedy is that mostly growing family are leaving the village. Only elderly people stay and when they pass away the houses are eventually locked,”the mayor said with sadness.

In August 2015, when Azeris again fired at the village, five families moved to Ijevan,” the mayor continued, adding Vazashen is at proximity of 18 km to the Azerbaijani border with areas as close as 1 km to the heavily militarized zone. However, the village is located on high hills that gives certain advantage to the Armenian side which, nonetheless, does not contain the adversary.

“Over the recent period, they have become insolent increasing the caliber of the weapons,” the mayor said, refrying also to the lack of jobs in the village eliminating any motivation for residents to stay.

Another problem the village is trying to grapple with is the lack of water. The government adopted decision on subsidizing the water supply, yet the village didn’t have irrigation water system since 1992. The only pumping station operating nearby supplies with water only the neighboring Aygehotiv village, and irrigation water cannot reach Vazashen.

“In the best case scenario, we can only manage use water during Autumn sowing”

The only income for the residents is the forest where the locals collect greens, berries, and wood. The head of Vazashen community insists the numerous problems of the settlement will be solved once jobs are created. “We do not care about the shooting be that of rifles or machine guns, yet only the creation of job places is what that matters most,” he noted.