Every time the negotiation process of the Karabakh conflict is activated and the co-chairmen announce that the sides have never been so close to resolution, parallel discussions are launched about why the liberated regions are not populated. NKR President Arkady Ghukasyan announces that Karabakh is not able to populate those regions on its own. It’s worth dozens of millions of dollars, and in Armenia there are oligarchs who could have built villages in those regions over the course of time. It’s interesting to know whether the only reason the regions aren’t being populated is the lack of finances. Are there no other problems? In fact there are numerous reasons, but now we’ll present the key three ones. First is the lack of finances, and second the absence of belief about a good future. The third one is the lack of human resources. Let’s start from the lack of finances. First it’s not the oligarch’s business to pay to inhabit the liberated regions. Why would they pay from their own pocket to build villages? It’s known in the whole world that such projects are implemented by the state at the expense of the budget, and the oligarchs just pay taxes. They don’t deal with anything else. Patriotism is a good thing but you don’t build a state relying only on patriotism. Laws need to be enforced for the development of a state.
In general, experience shows that it’s not right to connect the future of a state with individuals. For example, in 1997 during the discussion of the document of Karabakh conflict resolution at the RA National Security Board, there was an attitude (which still exists) that Armenia could have developed even in the conditions of a blockade by using the potential of the Diaspora. Even concrete numbers were mentioned – 400-500 million USD annually. It happened that way. The rich Armenians of the Diaspora decently helped and still help their country. As a result the streets of Yerevan are covered with asphalt, and new hotels and cottages are built. That’s all. This is quite understandable. Why would the Diaspora Armenian build a village in the Kubatli region if he could build an elite building in downtown Yerevan and have great profits later? Moreover the annual private international monetary transfers flowing to Armenia amount to 1.5 billion USD. So what? Does the state of Karabakh improve as a result, or does the number of people living in the liberated areas increase? No it doesn’t. Thus the problem is not only the finances.
Let’s speak about the absence of belief and hope about a good future. Yes, there is little possibility that everything will be all right in the liberated areas. Few people will leave their houses and life in Armenia to move to live in Karabakh. But the future of Shirak or Gegharkunik is not unclear, however people migrate from there as well. Now let’s speak about the lack of human resources. Armenia is the most densely populated country of the region. The population density of Armenia amounts to 110 people per square kilometer. And if we take into account the fact that about 60% of our land is not eligible for living, this datum will amount to 250 per square kilometer. This means that if Armenia dynamically developed and migration didn’t continue, the liberated lands would automatically be populated and the state would just have to solve communication issues. There is no sense to speak about those things now. Even the developed villages of Armenia are being emptied. How can we guarantee a population rise in the liberated areas?
Thus there is only one way to populate those regions. We should make Armenia attractive to people so that they live here not because they were born in Armenia but because they enjoy living in Armenia. As soon as the process of migration is stopped and people come back to their fatherland (I don’t mean just a formal 2-3 thousand repatriates) and when the businessmen start to regularly pay taxes to the state (not to certain entities) the liberated territories will be populated. And if not, then we don’t need those territories. Yerevan and the neighboring villages are enough.