People from all the regions of Armenia come to Bagratashen (Sadakhlo)
to find a job, but there are more people coming from Noyemberyan and
Alaverdi, especially from Ayrum. First of all, there is a higher level
of unemployment in those areas and secondly, Alaverdi is near
Bagratashen (a half hour drive). Both men and women come here to find
an “outgoing job”. There are more women because their husbands have
left Bagratashen and they can not earn a living. Women here do not
differentiate between the types of jobs. They do everything, starting
from commerce, carrying loads and janitorial work. They even “start
businesses”. The more clever workers open up hotels and restaurants and
do other second-hand jobs (they work as prostitutes). The women working
at the restaurants are women who are prettyh old and fat.They don’t
confess that but they talk about each other secretly. The important
thing is for that to remain a secret. They serve everything in those
restaurants. The men who have been separated from their families eat
full meals and “feel the warmth”. There are types of women in
Bagratashen that have close ties with both men and women. If necessary,
they can help each other out in doing a job without any personal
interest. The women who come to Bagratashen help out the businessmen at
customs. Of course, not everyone likes this “flexibility”. The young
and beautiful women that come here look for a wealthy, cleanly shaven
customs workers and border officials. As for the men who have an
average salary are welcomed by the women of Bagratashen who don’t have
husbands. The housewives are not demanding, they get along well and
that benefits them too. Some women get along so well that they don’t
discriminate the other’s nationality. The people that come here to find
a job have contacts with Armenians, Georgians and Azeri. The refugee
women are especially the ones who don’t have any complications
regarding national belonging.
There is also a group of businesswomen. They go to Lilo’s market in
Georgia, bring a lot of products and sell them at the Bagratashen
market. They also smoke and consider themselves women with good taste.
They expect men to treat them the “best way”. However, they don’t
respect men that much. It is because of their weakness that they have
lost the sense of being a woman.
It seems as though Bagratashen is the only residency in Armenia where women can solve the gender issues.
The newcomer’s luck
Mrs. R works at the Sadakhlo market, also known as the Georgian side.
She works for an Azeri as a dishwasher at a restaurant. She and her
family escaped from Azerbaijan and settled in this area near the
border. Only the mother and child remain from the family. Then the
grandchild was born who was also a girl. The mother wanted a boy. “What
do I need a daughter for? She will be unlucky just like me.” The
grandmother does not agree with that. “The mother needs a daughter.
When the boy grows up he is no longer yours. He then belongs to his
wife.”
Mrs. R.’s husband died from cancer. May God watch over him. But you can
not live by grieving and starving to death, especially when your
daughter’s husband has abandoned her and left for Russia. “I work for a
Turk and he gives me 1000 dram a day. I eat well and I bring some stuff
with me home. What else can I do? I need to live after all. Turkish
women will not work for 1000 dram a day. We have no other choice. I
have an Azeri boyfriend. He is a little older than me but it’s not bad.
At least he takes care of me. He comes to visit me and I do the same.
He gives me money, brings me food, in other words, he really takes care
of me. It’s OK if he is a Turk. Besides, he looks after me better than
an Armenian does. He is not rude like an Armenian man. Armenian men
would kill for spending their money. They also beat their wives.” Mrs.
R’s daughter has fallen in love with a boy from Noyemberyan. “She loves
him, goes out with him, but does not bring any money home. My boss is a
young, handsome, rich Turk. He tells me to find him a pretty Armenian
girl. My daughter refuses and says that she loves someone else. He does
not have any money. I tell her to go with the Turk. He will take her
once a week, feed her well, and she will be able to pay for her
expenses for the week,” says the mother.
The girl’s diary
Mrs. R’s daughter keeps a diary where she writes about her romantic
stories and the things she sees. We asked her to read some of them:
”A man named Joseph went to his city of Bethlehem. A virgin girl named Mary became his wife and went with him.”
“It is wonderful to have a child. When your child is born you feel that
it is you. It is such a joyous moment. I have always dreamed of having
a child of my own, to hear him say mama softly to me.”
“You must love to be loved. Whatever you do and whomever you do it with, you must do it with love.”
“I fell in love with a boy with blue eyes. He was very tall, handsome
and attractive. He was older than me. We met one night out of nowhere.
I was lying down in my bed, someone knocked on my door. It was the
village chief. He took me outside, we walked around for a while. Then
he hugged me and gave me a kiss. He said that I am the only one for
him, that I was attractive….”
“I sold my body for the first time to an old man at the age of 16. I
started working as a prostitute so that I could take care of my mother
and my brother in jail….I was the only one left in this miserable
world, people turned cruel.”
Las Vegas
One of the women working at the trailer restaurants tells her story:
“Many women come from Alaverdi and Ayrum. They have husbands, but they
come looking for Armenians, Georgians and Turks-as long as there is
money concerned. Each woman is satisfied with the Turks. They say that
they give a lot of money and they don’t beat their wives. There are
some people who are just used to that kind of lifestyle. There are lots
of them here. They do that over there too, bu here it’s different in
that it is widespread. They work good money. It’s kind of like some
center, a Las Vegas, if you will. The fact that it is widespread
doesn’t hold the women back. Men come here, leaving their homes behind.
It is a comfortable place and what the men want is a comfortable girl.
It works. The restaurant owners do that too, they know a lot of girls
and they call them whenver they want. The workers are like that too.
They don’t leave the client unhappy.”
This is how people live in Bagratashen and this is not dangerous. It
just has some secret dangers. Here everyone knows about crimes taking
place and sexually transmitted diseases. No wonder there is a police
department in the village. The MSF also has a separate division here.
Many organizations are registered, including the police department and
the MSF divisions. But both divisions do not like to go deep into
things in order to not lose trust in their customers. However, at the
same time they don’t hide the fact that Bagratashen is a special zone
and has everything. Village chief Hovsep Ogumtsyan makes a joke: “My
village is like no other.”