Levon Hayaraptyan's "Genetic Tax" or How He Made "Karabakh Fairy Tale" Real (VIDEO)

• 10.19.2017, 15:18
•  World,  Armenia,  NKR,  Diaspora

Kremlinpress.com

 "… Every Armenian, living beyond the borders of his homeland, irrespective of his occupation, should pay genetic tribute to the Armenian nation," these are the words of Levon Hayrapetyan, whose name is known to everyone in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic). In his native village Vank in Artsakh he restored  the medieval monastery of the 13th century, Gandzasar, built a woodworking plant, road, hospital, new school and several hotel complexes, realized various ideas in many villages of Artsakh. Levon Hayrapetyan also authored and sponsored the idea of the project "Big Karabakh Wedding".

In 2008, exactly 9 years ago, in October, simultaneous wedding ceremonies took place in Artsakh, in which 700 couples took part. A serious incentive for young people to take part in the collective wedding was the promise of sponsors to give each pair a "gold card" worth two thousand dollars, in addition to 300 thousand AMD provided by the government. On the day of the wedding, each couple also received 200 dollars - to buy wedding rings and a cow (this animal is a symbol of the well-being in the Artsakh villages). Besides, other gifts were prepared for the wedding participants - after the birth of the first child, second child, etc. "Nearly 90 percent of Karabakh territory are villages, we should have well-equipped villages, for the youth not to live them for cities" Hayrapetian used to say.

The greatest Armenian philanthropist in the post-Soviet space, Levon Hayrapetyan spent more than $ 3 million on the development of Artsakh. In his opinion, the Armenians are gifted with genetic potential instead of oil and gas, which, unfortunately, is still not totally used. And Levon Hayrapetyan - a successful Russian businessman, former journalist and co-owner of such famous publications as "Sobesednik", etc., for many years paid Artsakh, from where he originated a kind of "genetic tax".

"The authorities of Karabakh and Armenia have lost lots of time. 15 years ago Italy was the poorest country in Europe, but they declared war on corruption and achieved amazing results. For us, corruption is an inadmissible luxury, and only by opposing it, problems of the people will become a part of the authorities’ lives," Hayrapetyan once stated.

"In Artsakh, investors should forget for a while about such concepts as risk and profit. For now it is still necessary to pursue purely charitable goals, " Levon Hayrapetyan stated and invited  "to build" Artsakh, to make different friends-businessmen from various countries of the world invest there.

"One should help people, but if help has no consequences, it turns into alms, which in its turn makes a person have a poor soul. You cannot treat a person like that, especially the one who hides powerful potential. You need to give him the opportunity - the rest he will do himself. You should help him to take the path, but not pass it instead of him, "Hayrapetyan noted. According to him, "we must have high ambitions, as during the war the people set the bar high…"

And when we learned the sad news about the Levon Hayrapetyan’s death, a man who changed the post-war appearance of Artsakh, one thinks of the film "Karabakh Fairy Tale". Hayrapetyan has had no engagement in the production of the film (the authors of the film - Internews (Armenia) and Stepanakert Press Club, the film was shot as a part of the "Dialogue through Cinema" project with the assistance of the British organization "Reconciliation Resources"). However, the film is directly related to Hayrapetyan, because the village, where "Karabakh fairy tale" came true, got a second life due to one of the sons of Artsakh, Levon Hayrapetyan, a man whose memory will be long alive both in Artsakh and beyond its borders…