SWEET GRAPES OF BERDAVAN

Berdavan village is just a few hundred meters away from the enemy. We are accompanied by the deputy commander of the military unit, Lieutenant Colonel Manuk Badalyan who says that vineyard is just around the military unit directly under the gun of the enemy, so it is not safe to work in the garden, to collect harvest. Spouses Aprikyans treated us with grapes, and it seemed to me that this grape has a very different flavor.

Finally we reached the positions. Colonel Badalyan says that some time ago here the enemy was fortified, there were fierce battles, the point several times passed from hand to hand, and for the last years it belongs to us.

The first thing I noticed, it was a full plate of grapes. Sergeant of the position Lieutenant Hamayak Aslikyan says that the peasants always bring something to the soldiers. He was a sergeant-contractor, recently received the rank of officer. He says: “One has to plow the land, and the other has to protect it.”

On that day, the enemy had 30-40 times disturbed our side. Sergeant Titanyan sits in the trench and stares into the enemy. He says: “They rarely shoot in the direction of our position, realized that cannot trifle with us, and they shoot at the peasants. It is open field, nothing complicated. And this is their tactics…”

Soldier Gyunashyan says: “Our vigilance binds them, but as soon as we relax, they’ll immediately take over. Our country has given to each one some plot of land to protect, and ours is – these gardens.”

I say goodbye to them. And I already know why grapes of Berdavan are so sweet…

SHOUSHAN STEPANAYN
Photos by S. Harutyunyan