KHRAMORT, ARMENIA // It is nearly 15 years since the Armenian residents of this village in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh began returning to their homes, but the scars of the six-year conflict with Azerbaijan will take longer to heal.
Almost all of those who lived in this sleepy village - now in the self-declared independent state of Nagorno-Karabakh - lost a family member in the war that ultimately claimed as many as 30,000 lives, both Armenian and Azerbaijani.
The Armenians were cleared out when Azeri forces swept through in late 1991, according to villagers, leaving a wake of destruction behind them.
After the conflict ended in 1994, Armenians began to return to Khramort, but according to Mr Ohanyan, only about 250 people live in the village now, a quarter of the original total. Many have gone to Russia or Armenia, he said, because there is no opportunity for them in Nagorno-Karabakh.
"It would have been better if there had been no war and they had just separated us by quiet means," said the 52-year-old, whose elder brother Hovsep was killed by a mine in 1995.
"For freedom [the conflict] was worth it, but it wasn't good to have so many sacrifices. They could have solved the problem in a peaceful way. They solved the problem in Abkhazia [the disputed region in Georgia that has declared independence] quickly, but ours is so long."
The war between Christian-ethnic Armenians and Muslim-ethnic Azeris over Nagorno-Karabakh lasted for nearly six years.
Nagorno-Karabakh had been an Armenian-majority enclave in Azerbaijan, but is now a self-declared independent state not recognised by any nation, not even Armenia, on which it remains heavily dependent for defence and economic survival. Although apart from the occasional skirmish at the frontlines, the guns have been silent since the 1994 ceasefire, a peace deal remains elusive.
Last year, in talks near Moscow hosted by the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a framework about coming to a permanent solution. Ahead of a planned meeting in Russia between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents on July 17, a recent joint statement from the Russian, French and American presidents called on the pair to "resolve the few remaining differences" and finalise an agreement on Nagorno-Karabakh.
Many, however, believe a political solution is not imminent, and with Azerbaijan having announced just over a year ago it was increasing its annual defence budget from $1.3 billion (Dh4.8bn) to $2bn, there is speculation conflict could erupt again. The absence of a peace agreement also makes it harder for Armenia to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey, since Azerbaijan is not keen for its ally Turkey to agree to their creation without the Nagorno-Karabakh situation resolved. For the people of Khramort, the lack of a solution makes them wonder what Armenia's military victory achieved.
"The sacrifices were not worth it for what we have now," said Mrs Ghahramanyan. "Maybe we could have lived with them together, the Azeris, and so many people wouldn't have died.
"I don't understand anything. Why don't they solve our problems? Why should we wait 15 years with no solution? They are just making meetings and they don't get any solution."
Another villager, Manya Aghadjanyan, 57, lost two close relatives.
Her first three sons died in childhood, so she gave her fourth son an Azeri name, Mamed, as these are said to lead to a long life. However, Mamed was killed in 1992 when he was 18 while in the army.
Six years later, Mrs Aghadjanyan's nephew, Sergey, died when his car struck a mine while he was driving in Agdam, an abandoned former Azeri city visible in the distance from Khramort.
"It was a great loss," said Mrs Aghadjanyan, who lives with her husband and her daughter Anush, 17, who has Down's syndrome. Her husband works as a gardener, but he has a bad back and Mrs Aghadjanyan said his income was only enough to pay for his medicine and cigarettes. "I'm a sick person and I cannot work," she said.
dbardsley@thenational.ae
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
The%20specs
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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