Nerkin Karmiraghbyur

DANGEROUS GARDENING IN BORDER VILLAGE: ONE WOUNDED BY SNIPER HOURS AFTER OSCE VISIT

By Gohar Abrahamyan

ArmeniaNow News | 01.06.12 | 13:10

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A resident of Nerkin Karmraghbyur village, Tavush province, was wounded by an Azeri sniper on Friday morning in a vineyard near the Armenian-Azeri border. Head of Aygepar, another border village Andranik Aydinyan told ArmeniaNow that the vineyards are located between the two border villages, only 300 meters from the "turbulent" Armenian-Azeri border, directly in front of Azeri bases.

"(The victim) is a peaceful villager. And now it is the most heated season of agricultural work. He went to work in his vineyard early in the morning, but at about 7 a.m. he was shot at several times. Luckily he has managed to take cover, and only his leg is wounded," Aydinyan says, adding that the villager - 52-year-old Vachik Melkumyan is at the hospital in Berd, in stable condition.

Aydinyan told ArmeniaNow that on Thursday OSCE Chairman-in-Office's personal representative office conducted a scheduled monitoring of the Armenian-Azeri line of contact near Aygepar, during which the sides gave security guarantees to each other through a radio contact.

"So it turns out that only a few hours after meeting with OSCE representatives and coming to a mutual agreement an [Azeri] sniper fired at a peaceful [Armenian] villager," Aydinyan says.

Hakov Israyelyan, a resident of Nerkin Karmraghbyur, told ArmeniaNow that even though there is no panic in the village after the recent incident villagers are afraid to tend their crops and gardens now.

"My vineyard is also located some 350 meters from the border, and now I do not know what to do. I get my only income from that vineyard.

Every year we have to work in our vineyards at night," Israyelyan says. "Recently Azeris have started firing both at the village and at villagers quite often."