Jermuk resident Ararat Sargsyan built a small house in the forest last year, expecting to use it as a guest house. But a year later, on September 14, the Sargsyan family lost their only source of income. During a missile attack by the Azerbaijani military, a shell hit their newly built house. Fortunately no one was in the house, as a result of the shelling, the inside of the house was completely destroyed, the recreation room located not far from the building, even the big fir tree in the garden fell (photo report).
"There was such a powerful weapon that it went all the way inside, the inside is in the same state of ruin," says Ararat Sargsyan, who returned home to show the destruction to journalists.
There were sliced fruit, cups and plates on the table in the living room, the Sargsyans sat down for coffee on the evening of the 12th, shelling began, and the family, leaving the table like that, quickly left the house. On the afternoon of September 14, Ararat returned home and saw that the house had been destroyed. He took his wife and son out of Jermuk, but he stayed behind.
The Sargsyan family is not the only family that had to urgently leave their home. Jermuk, one of the most attractive cities in Armenia for tourists, has been closed for more than a week. There is little movement of people in the city. either they have been evacuated or are in shelters. On the night of September 12-13, residents of the resort town located 173 kilometers from Yerevan and hundreds of tourists had to urgently leave Jermuk, many of them even left their belongings in hotels, as Azerbaijan shelled both positions and the town. . As a result of Azerbaijani aggression in Vayots Dzor, guest houses, a sanatorium, a ropeway, the building of the fire and rescue squad of the emergency service were damaged, two shells fell on the Ketchut water reservoir, Azerbaijanis also hit the village cemetery.
The residents of the Kechut community are still deprived of irrigation water, the water line has been taken over by the Azerbaijanis. According to Artak Bagratyan, head of the village administration, the residents are in a hopeless situation, since every year they plant potatoes on 10 hectares of land in the village, which they do not know how to irrigate. The gas and electricity supply has been restored since September 20. In addition, cattle in the upper part of the village were killed and damaged by explosions. Grass was left on the mountain and people could not bring it in. The barns were also damaged.
The Jermuk ropeway was the first of the civil infrastructure objects that were damaged. Community ropeway director Armen Tadevosyan told NEWS.am, that the first blow occurred a few minutes after the ropeway closed, a worker was miraculously saved. "The first blow to the city was the cable car. Next was the military unit, the military unit warehouses, all the suburban areas. There were more strikes on the cable car with pauses. The concrete ropeway was shelled with large-caliber mortars. The ropeway was definitely damaged. They probably thought it was a strategic, dangerous structure, because from the top of the cable car you can see the area they invaded at that moment."
The ropeway, which has been operating since January 1, 2008, receives an average of 25-35 thousand visitors a year. According to preliminary calculations, only the repair of cables and supports of the first substation requires more than 200 thousand dollars. It should be noted that a ropeway, waterfall and famous pub are the must-see places in Jermuk. There are 40 hot springs in the town, which are rich in many microelements and cure various diseases. This is why the city receives many visitors from different parts of the world, who are treated by the hot and cold waters.
After the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan, economist Suren Parsyan believes there will be no tourist flow to Jermuk. "We have lost quite a lot of areas, most of which were of great agricultural value. Pastures have been damaged. Pastures have now become the number one problem for cattle breeding. That said, real estate there is going to get cheaper. There is also the Amulsar mine, in which about 350 million dollars were invested. The American and Canadian investors, as well as the Armenian side should apply to all international courts for compensation if the military operations will have consequences for Amulsar as well.
It should be noted that Jermuk forests also caught fire from Azerbaijani shelling. According to official information, fires have caused considerable damage to the biodiversity of the forest area of 10 hectares, including endemic flora and fauna, which resulted in land degradation. Plants and animals inhabiting these areas, Armenian mouflon, bezoar goat, brown bear etc. are included in the Red Book. Jermuk also has rich ecosystem: oaks, junipers, pines which are also endangered as forest fires damage special kinds of plants and animals.
The Chief of General Staff of the Army Eduard Asryan earlier stated that as a result of the aggression on September 13, the enemy entered the sovereign territory of Armenia with an 8.5 km wide and 7.5 km deep front. According to him, groups of Azerbaijani armed formations are 4.5 km away from Jermuk gate, separate groups and detachments of the enemy are under the direct control of Armenian formations and are under siege. It should be noted that prior to this military operation Jermuk was 12 km away from the border.
