Tweet
SHUSHI: RESTORING THE CROWN JEWEL OF ARMENIAN CIVILIZATION
Friday, May 9th, 2014
Ghanchetsots Street is one of many roads renovated by the Armenia Fund
Shushi sits atop Artsakh like a crown. Its peaceful beauty today
makes it hard to believe that this Armenian town was where nonstop
Azerbaijani attacks were being launched against the civilian population
of Stepanakert. It wasn't the first time Shushi was the center of
an attack on Armenians: in 1920, Turkey and Azerbaijan colluded
to massacre 20,000 Armenians in the town, continuing the genocidal
policies being effected to the west.
In the early 1990s, it was after months of shelling by Grad missiles
while Armenian soldiers were away fighting in other regions that those
men were able to return, liberate the town, and stop the inhumane
attacks on civilians by Azerbaijani forces occupying Shushi. It marked
a turning point in the Artsakh War for Independence.
The liberation of Shushi was a feat of deft military strategy:
outgunned and outmanned Armenian soldiers were tasked with taking a
town on higher ground, a mountaintop, and one of the most difficult
maneuvers in war.
Its military significance aside, Shushi has been at the center of
Armenian history for centuries. Thus, rebuilding the town, badly
damaged during the war, to allow its residents to have relatively
normal lives was a top priority for Armenia Fund.
Since Artsakh's independence, there have been over 30 projects that
have been funded entirely by donations made by Armenians throughout
the world.
Projects have ranged from renovating streets totally ruined during the
war to restoring the library to making improvements to the hospital. A
cornerstone Armenia Fund project, recently completed, was bringing
24-hour, clean, safe-to-drink running water to the whole town for
the first time in 20 years.
Besides the integral infrastructural improvements, an emphasis has
been placed on developing Shushi's educational facilities: of the over
30 projects, 11 have focused on the educational. Destroyed or badly
damaged like most everything else in the town, schools were restored
or built anew by Armenia Fund to ensure that Shushi's children had
a place where they could attend classes. Today, of the 700 children
attending schools in Shushi, 450 are in the Khachatur Abovyan School
reconstructed by Armenia Fund.
And the progress is ongoing. The Yeznik Mozian Vocational School is a
new facility where young people can learn a trade, developing practical
skills in fields like carpentry, metalwork, construction technology,
and machinery operation that are in demand. The only one of its kind
in the region, the school is open to students from throughout Artsakh,
as well as the rest of Armenia. Upon completion, graduates are able
to enter the workforce, generate income, and build and provide for
their family.
In a country still feeling the effects of war, some children do not
receive the parental supervision they deserve. For that reason,
Armenia Fund is constructing the Shushi Boarding Kindergarten -
an orphanage where children receive shelter and have access to the
town's educational facilities, as well as the opportunity to attend
a vocational school later in life.
Shushi's reputation as an historical hub for Armenian culture also
figures into the work that Armenia Fund does there. Most recently
the reconstruction of the Shushi Culture and Education Center has
sought to reestablish a base for cultural activity. The center will
include arts and crafts areas, a folk music band and dance group,
a puppet theater, as well as a modern, HD surround-sound movie theater.
Supplemental financing from Artsakh's government is currently going
toward building a modern theater stage, as well.
These ongoing projects complement the established institutions in the
town that Armenia Fund helped get back on their feet, particularly
the Daniel Ghazaryan Music College and Muratsan Vocational School. In
the former, puppet theater and dance rehearsals are already attended
by schoolchildren and teenagers from Shushi and nearby towns.
In all, since the end of the Artsakh War, Armenia Fund and the
Armenians throughout the world who donated to it, have realized over
$11.5 million in infrastructural, educational, and cultural projects
in Shushi. The impact on the town's vitality is as plain as day.
The liberation of Shushi was a great victory. Winning the war and
securing Artsakh's independence was an even greater victory. The
greatest victory will be to remember and realize what our soldiers
were fighting for and what our people died for - the right to live
and prosper in a free Armenian land. The work of Armenia Fund is based
on a belief in that right and through their contributions, Armenians
everywhere have been a continuing part of making it a reality.
Happy Shushi Liberation Day! Our progress continues.
http://asbarez.com/122875/shushi-restoring-the-crown-jewel-of-armenian-civilization/
Friday, May 9th, 2014
Ghanchetsots Street is one of many roads renovated by the Armenia Fund
Shushi sits atop Artsakh like a crown. Its peaceful beauty today
makes it hard to believe that this Armenian town was where nonstop
Azerbaijani attacks were being launched against the civilian population
of Stepanakert. It wasn't the first time Shushi was the center of
an attack on Armenians: in 1920, Turkey and Azerbaijan colluded
to massacre 20,000 Armenians in the town, continuing the genocidal
policies being effected to the west.
In the early 1990s, it was after months of shelling by Grad missiles
while Armenian soldiers were away fighting in other regions that those
men were able to return, liberate the town, and stop the inhumane
attacks on civilians by Azerbaijani forces occupying Shushi. It marked
a turning point in the Artsakh War for Independence.
The liberation of Shushi was a feat of deft military strategy:
outgunned and outmanned Armenian soldiers were tasked with taking a
town on higher ground, a mountaintop, and one of the most difficult
maneuvers in war.
Its military significance aside, Shushi has been at the center of
Armenian history for centuries. Thus, rebuilding the town, badly
damaged during the war, to allow its residents to have relatively
normal lives was a top priority for Armenia Fund.
Since Artsakh's independence, there have been over 30 projects that
have been funded entirely by donations made by Armenians throughout
the world.
Projects have ranged from renovating streets totally ruined during the
war to restoring the library to making improvements to the hospital. A
cornerstone Armenia Fund project, recently completed, was bringing
24-hour, clean, safe-to-drink running water to the whole town for
the first time in 20 years.
Besides the integral infrastructural improvements, an emphasis has
been placed on developing Shushi's educational facilities: of the over
30 projects, 11 have focused on the educational. Destroyed or badly
damaged like most everything else in the town, schools were restored
or built anew by Armenia Fund to ensure that Shushi's children had
a place where they could attend classes. Today, of the 700 children
attending schools in Shushi, 450 are in the Khachatur Abovyan School
reconstructed by Armenia Fund.
And the progress is ongoing. The Yeznik Mozian Vocational School is a
new facility where young people can learn a trade, developing practical
skills in fields like carpentry, metalwork, construction technology,
and machinery operation that are in demand. The only one of its kind
in the region, the school is open to students from throughout Artsakh,
as well as the rest of Armenia. Upon completion, graduates are able
to enter the workforce, generate income, and build and provide for
their family.
In a country still feeling the effects of war, some children do not
receive the parental supervision they deserve. For that reason,
Armenia Fund is constructing the Shushi Boarding Kindergarten -
an orphanage where children receive shelter and have access to the
town's educational facilities, as well as the opportunity to attend
a vocational school later in life.
Shushi's reputation as an historical hub for Armenian culture also
figures into the work that Armenia Fund does there. Most recently
the reconstruction of the Shushi Culture and Education Center has
sought to reestablish a base for cultural activity. The center will
include arts and crafts areas, a folk music band and dance group,
a puppet theater, as well as a modern, HD surround-sound movie theater.
Supplemental financing from Artsakh's government is currently going
toward building a modern theater stage, as well.
These ongoing projects complement the established institutions in the
town that Armenia Fund helped get back on their feet, particularly
the Daniel Ghazaryan Music College and Muratsan Vocational School. In
the former, puppet theater and dance rehearsals are already attended
by schoolchildren and teenagers from Shushi and nearby towns.
In all, since the end of the Artsakh War, Armenia Fund and the
Armenians throughout the world who donated to it, have realized over
$11.5 million in infrastructural, educational, and cultural projects
in Shushi. The impact on the town's vitality is as plain as day.
The liberation of Shushi was a great victory. Winning the war and
securing Artsakh's independence was an even greater victory. The
greatest victory will be to remember and realize what our soldiers
were fighting for and what our people died for - the right to live
and prosper in a free Armenian land. The work of Armenia Fund is based
on a belief in that right and through their contributions, Armenians
everywhere have been a continuing part of making it a reality.
Happy Shushi Liberation Day! Our progress continues.
http://asbarez.com/122875/shushi-restoring-the-crown-jewel-of-armenian-civilization/