"My son went and left me alone"
Men of Armavir region mainly leave the region in search of jobs abroad. There is nothing to do in the villages besides farming and that depends on the weather. Almost all families have relatives abroad and Varuzhan Petrosyan's family of Artashar village is no exception.
"My daughter and her family are in Ukraine. They obviously don't have any plans to return because they have everything there. People don't adapt to working in the villages or they work without any income," said Varuzhan.
Mrs. Gyavaz, who is Yezdi by nationality, is alone. Her husband died and her sons live alone. Only one of her sons used to live with her, but he left with his family due to unemployment.
"My son went to Russia and left me alone. I don't know what to do. I only live on pension worth 20,000 drams," said Mrs. Gyavaz.
Her son can't help his mother because, as Mrs. Gyavaz said, "he barely takes care of his expenses".
However, her son and his family don't have any plans to return. Although she talked about her son with tears in her eyes, she said: "What can they do here? There is nothing to do. Life is very hard."
The people leaving the village are mainly youth. According to head of the village Manvel Ohanyan, emigration is one of the biggest problems facing the village.
"There are many people leaving the village, but there are no empty houses or lands," said Ohanyan.
According to him, people don't sell their homes or lands before leaving. They hand it over to their friends with the hope that they will return someday.
According to Armenia's National Statistical Service, 5,226 people have left Armenia in the period between January and June 2010.
