Longing of the motherland - the Western Azerbaijanis in Nakhchivan - VİDEO

Western Azerbaijanis, who were victims of Armenian ethnic cleansing and deportation policy, live as displaced persons in other regions of our country.  Nakhchivan is one of the most populated regions of our compatriots who were subjected to mass deportations 4 times in the last century. More than 2,000 of our West Azerbaijani compatriots living in the village of Chalkhangala of Kangarli region have been longing to return to their homeland for 35 years.

This is Chalkhangala village of Nakhchivan with beautiful nature and ancient history.

The main feature that distinguishes this remote village of Kangarli region from other settlements is that it welcomes more than 2,000 compatriots who were forced to migrate from Western Azerbaijan at the end of the last century.  Now the village has a population of 2163 people. The vast majority of them are our West Azerbaijani compatriots, whom the Armenians displaced from their native villages. The village community says that more than 300 families from about 20 villages of Western Azerbaijan currently live in Chalkhangala. Here they continue the traditions formed by their ancestors in their native homelands, mainly engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry and beekeeping.

Yusif Samadov, originally from the village of Gomur in Western Azerbaijan, wrote this poem with longing for that miserable land where he lived until 1988. He is engaged in beekeeping inherited from his father in the village. This hardworking man, who keeps more than 90 families of bees, says that beekeeping has been one of the main occupations in the village of Gomur since his ancestors. Every night in his dream, Yusif saw the flowery mountains he enjoyed walking in his youth, and his biggest dream is to visit the graves of his loved ones buried in those holy lands.

Our interviewer, Tamara Samadova, has been living with longing for the village of Gomur, where she was born and raised for 35 years.  Ms. Tamara, who was forced to leave her native home with her husband Yusif in 1988, says that during this time of the year, she and her daughter-in-law would gather unique medicinal plants from the green mountains of those places and cook delicious keta.  Gomur was mostly famous for its kata.

In 1988, the Gurbanov family was forcibly evicted from the village of Gulustan and forcibly settled in Chalkhangala. The head of the family, Mr. Aghalar, teaches chemistry and biology at the school. He watches television and the press every day and waits for news from his homeland.  Mr. Aghalar says that he has read the text of the Concept of Return to West Azerbaijan many times. Rightful demands accepted under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev and addressed to international institutions speak from their hearts as West Azerbaijanis.

These photos are memories from my youth. They are ready to sacrifice everything to return to that era. Except for this old carpet, which they kept as the apple of their eye. The carpet, which received natural dye from the colorful plants of Darelaez mountains, has not lost its freshness even today. This only inheritance from their parents is very dear to them.

Each of the students studying in the modern school building of Chalkhangala are children of our West Azerbaijani compatriots.  Although they did not witness those painful times, they can hear about the policy of deportation and ethnic cleansing of Armenians from their history lessons and from their parents who were live witnesses of those events.

Obligatory displaced Bakhtiyar Hasanov from Zeyta village of Western Azerbaijan has been teaching history in Chalkhangala since 1989.  Along with the textbooks, he also tells the students in detail about the deportation of 1988-1991, which he saw with his own eyes and has not been erased from his memory for 35 years. That is why young people looking for the names of the places where their ancestors lived on the map in the school library now wish for the days when they will move to those places.

Children are also very interested in the music school operating in the village of Chalkhangala. Because in each of these children with a high sense of music lives the spirit of Ashiq Alasgar, the master of words of the ancient Goycha district. Although the young teacher of the school, Royshan Mammadov, grew up and studied in Chalkhangala, he is now instilling the secrets of playing the tar, which he learned from his uncles, to the younger generations. His great dream is to give a concert together with his students in the ancient land of Yerevan.

More than 300 families living in Chalkhangala village believe that justice will be restored soon and are looking forward to the day when they will return to their homeland.