Wednesday, May 6 2015 09:00

The twisting bumpy road, which borders with Azerbaijan, has brought us to Mayis Sarkisyan’s house. 

Residents of Voskevan village (Tavush province) also call him uncle Hovik. The host greeted us while he was modernizing his sophisticated trailer with a hammer in his hand…

 

Hovik Sarkisyan is famous all over Tavush for his eccentric character, two absolutely unique cars, showy machinery skills, but most of all for his love for iron. People in Voskevan and neighbouring villages have famed this love in sayings and even legends long before. They claim that the 65-year old mechanic begs iron’s pardon every time he strikes it with his hammer …

 

“I started with a motorcycle when I was 17. During the Artshakh war I started pondering that our “Kamaz”, “Zil” and “Gaz” trucks were in grave need for modernization for they would get stuck in the mud near the fighting positions. It was then when I realized that given our mountainous relief a car without a winch was not a proper car”, tells uncle Hovik.

 

Years of meticulous work have resulted in the transformation of GAZ-69 (bought in 1974) into a powerful freightening tractor that endures impassability of roads and even hauls military equipment. Uncle Hovik has lost count of cars he has hauled out. “A military “KAMAZ” got stuck in the mountains not so long ago. Even a chain-track tractor failed hauling it out of mud. The guys could not help blessing my car and me. What else do I need? I have recently hauled a huge touristic bus out of a gorge, but my cable broke. It’s pitiable! There are no more good steel cables like that one”…

 

“I sometimes watch a programme which features young men boasting to the anchor-girl that they are good drivers (MagAvto+ Show – editor’s note). I believe that a top-sawyer should never applaud himself. I have recently seen a programme in which such “drivers” were trying to drive in Dilijan mountains. When the brand new jeep got stuck in the lake I wanted to fling the cable into the TV set and haul them out”, excitedly tells uncle Hovik.

 

“Our nation likes laughing at every single thing. When I started remodeling various types of equipment, I used to be laughed at, too. Last year I paid a visit to those boy racers and offered to kit out their cars with facilities that would have increased the off-road performance. Their response was all laughter and mockery”, he tells shrugging his shoulders.

 

Once a GAZ 66, laden with firewood, got stuck in the mud in the mountains. The car was from neighbouring Koti village. When uncle Hovik arrived, he found half of the village there. “Everyone was fleering, no one was going to help. I was the one to drag the car out. When I asked what they were laughing at, their answer was silence. I never refuse aid to anyone, never charge for my help. I will drag even an Azerbaijani out – it makes no difference to me – a human is a human”…

 

Uncle Hovik bought his ZIM-GAZ 12 (year 1960) in 1980. Many guests from Yerevan would offer him huge sums for the rare car, the last time it was 60.000 USD. “Both my son and grandchildren want to sell the ZIM, but I won’t let that happen. They can do whatever they want when I pass away. I like Soviet cars only and I want to get a governmental “Zil” or “Chaika”. I was offered to swap my ZIM for a Mercedes, yet I don’t have a need for it”…

“I will not sell my cars even if I’m offered a million. That is my life, the meaning of my life. Every time I drag someone out of a bog, mud, snow is worth a million to me. One can imagine what I am talking about only when he sees the deep gorges where huge cars get stuck and then I drag them out. It’s not me, but the equipment I have: cables, tows, ropes and, most importantly, a powerful chain-track”, says the old man.

 

Uncle Hovik masters walling up, plastering, and building. The only things he doesn’t master are destroying and murdering. The mechanic, who had participated in the defence of the borders from the very beginning, had never wielded a weapon. “I don’t like weapons, I have never killed anyone, even animals. I have no sympathy for hunters either, I always keep away from quarreling people. All in all I seem Jewish. I used to have Jewish friends back in Russia, they would always understand me. I fail explaining to the Armenians that I was the one to create this car and I will create more if I’m supplied with spare parts”, he says proudly pointing at his huge offroader.

 

Hovik Sargsyan was born in Tavush and spent 33 years of his life in Volgograd, Russia. “It is past time I turn to authorities for being granted a pension, yet I cannot return to Russia – who is to look after my house, cars, two daughters? What if a new war breaks out and the village falls to bombs again? Though, as a hard-working and calm person I got along better with the Russians rather than the Armenians”, he says shrugging his shoulders.

 

 “I started the ZIM and drove to Armenia after my Russian friends kept asking me why I would not return to my conflict-affected country. The road via Marneuli was a tricky one, so I decided to drive via Kazakh. On the Georgian border the Azeri even treated me to tea, they also liked my ZIM. On the Armenian border I was surrounded by Russian and Azeri soldiers. The Russian captain asked with a laugher “where have you come from so lively?” I answered where I was driving, responded to their questions on my ZIM. They were laughing, too, but I was lucky for they let me walk away alive”, recalls the man.

 

Uncle Hovik believes the Karabakh conflict will be settled due to a wise ruler who will head the country off from the wrong way. Yet neither the Armenians nor the Azerbaijani have such a person. “They are to develop the country and not fight. We live neither in America nor in Switzerland, that’s why we should know how to live in the place we dwell. I was present when taking Upper Voskepar, yet I burnt no houses, never hurt an Azerbaijani. If every single person thought like me there would be no wars”, he believes.  

 

After many years of suffering from a disease Hovik’s wife, the only person to understand and help him in his endeavours, passed away last year… Hovik’s son Marzpet is very smart, he is constructing a great building in Yerevan, yet he does not perceive his father’s love for iron. Hovik’s daughter is married to a flying officer and lives in Gyumri.

 

 “I dream of creating even a more powerful car, yet I cannot do it alone. I offered my help to army administration. The army needs more powerful tractors, different equipment, I offered to remodel theirs. But they would not even listen… Why do less powerful trucks and offroaders have to get stuck in mud? I’m 65, yet I don’t feel like 65, I want to keep creating. Yet I cannot do it on my own”…

 

 Note: the material has been prepared with input from International Alert within the framework of the EPNK project “Unheard Voices” financed by the EU. The journalists are responsible for the content of the material which does not necessarily reflect the outlook of International Alert, ЕPNK and our contributors.