| 1 |
******, em niha jî ji xwe re piçek soḥbet bikin, piçek qala xwe-w heyata xwe bike ji me re. |
|
******, let’s now have a chat together, tell us a bit about yourself and your life. |
| 2 |
Heyata xwe, ez gund mezin bûm, gund bûm. |
|
My life, I grew up in a village, I was living in a village. |
| 3 |
Bîst du sal e, gund jiyan dikim, malbata min. |
|
I’ve been living in the village for twenty-two years, with my family. |
| 4 |
Gundê me pir xaș e, tam ber ewî ye, beḥra Erez e, çemê Erez e gundê me. |
|
Our village is very nice, it is right in front of the Erez lake, the river Erez. |
| 5 |
Çiyayê Mêșê, çiyayê Mêș tam nêzîkê Êrîvanê ye. Digorê ye, çiyayê me. |
|
The Mêș mountain is very close to Yerevan. It’s in Digor, it’s our mountain. |
| 6 |
Havînê diçine çiya, wekî dinîș hem usa gund/ me qișlê em dibêjin, wir dimînin. |
|
In the summer we go to the mountain, otherwise we just stay in the village, we call it “qișlê”, we stay there. |
| 7 |
Gundê me gundekî gran e, ji nêzîka sedpêncî, disid mal hene. ʕeșîretek e, eșîreta Refkî em dibêjin. |
|
Our village is large, with almost one hundred and fifty to two hundred households. It’s a tribe, and we call it the “Refkî” tribe. |
| 8 |
Ḥemi ʕeqrebe dost in, ḥemu mekteba xwe ḥeya lîsê jî wir xwendiye. Îlkokul, ortaokul dibêjin tirkî, mi-l wir xwendîye. |
|
Everyone is friends or related to each other. I studied there until high school. Primary, secondary as they say in Turkish, I studied there. |
| 9 |
Jiyana/ ez niha jî li vê derê-m, bajêr jiyan dikim, lê ez jiyana gundî pir bi wê jiyanê, bêriya wê jiyanê dikim. |
|
Life / and now I live here, in the city, but I miss village life very much, the way I used to live. |
| 10 |
Zaroktiya mi pir xweș derbas bû, hema wisa nav gund, ceyran tunebû, sar bû. Ber çîroka mazin bûne em, ji maleke pirr qelebaliẋ em mezin bûn. |
|
I had a very pleasant childhood, but there was no water or electricity, it was cold. We grew up with stories, we grew up in a very crowded house. |
| 11 |
Mala kalkê min, mala apê min, mala me, em malek de sî, çil meriv em mezin bûn, pir qerebaliẋ bû. |
|
My grandfather’s family, my uncle’s family, our family, we grew up in one house with thirty or forty people living there, it was very crowded. |
| 12 |
Peyre hev cihê bûn, lê pir baș i, xwezî niha dîsa wî çaxî jiyana malê, aw wisa bû. |
|
Later they lived separately, but it was very good, I wish it was like that again with family life, that is how it was. |
| 13 |
Dema zarokatiyê da tê bîra te? |
|
Do you remember your childhood? |
| 14 |
Dema zarokatî-ș pir zor derbas bû, çawa bêjim, zemanê ji mektebê hem salê me îșkence derbas dibû. |
|
My childhood was very hard, how shall we say, during school time, each year was like torture. |
| 15 |
Çimkî, tek mektebek-û. Ew-îș bîr, îkî, üç, sê ḥev pol tev sinifekî da, tek mamostek hebû gund da. |
|
Because there was only one school. First, second and third grades were all in one classroom, there was only one teacher in the village. |
| 16 |
Royê me kermek dibir okulê, tișt digotin bînin sar e. |
|
Every day we would take dried dung to school, because it was cold. |
| 17 |
A wisa derbas bû, lê pir baș wû, xwezî dîsa wê çaxê wûya. Niha-ș hevalê mi-l gund in. |
|
That’s how it was, but it was very good, I miss those times. Even now, my friends are in the village. |
| 18 |
A, havîna em diçune çiyê, ceyran tine bû, tiște tine bû. |
|
In the summer we would go to the mountain, there was no electricity, there was nothing. |
| 19 |
Ḥeywan diçûne çolê, xelqê biçîm dikirin ceh û genim, gîha diçinîn. Hêj niha jî usa ne, papos hene. |
|
The animals would go out in the fields, people would go to and harvest, they would harvest barley and wheat, hay. |
| 20 |
Hê niha hinek modern, dover bîçer falan derketine. |
|
It is still like that, there are stalk-cutters. Now it is a bit more modern, combine harvesters have appeared. |
| 21 |
Nav gund dengê patosa, bîna kayê nayê, lê berê pir xweșî. |
|
In the village we no longer have the sound of the stalk-cutter, the smell of hay, but before it was much nicer. |
| 22 |
Sivê radbî bîna kayê tê nava gund, ber patosa. |
|
You would wake up in the morning and it smelled like hay in the village, before the stalk-cutters. |
| 23 |
Hîn jî niha jî, hema usa ber radyoa Êrîvanê mezin bûn. Radyok hebû, ji gundê me, gund nêzîkî, tam ava Erez derv/ derbas dive nav da, sînorê îște Kurdistanê-w Êrîvanê. |
|
I remember now, we grew up listening to the Yerevan radio. There was one radio, for our whole village, the village was near, the Erez river passes through it, it’s on the border of Kurdistan and Armenia. |
| 24 |
Dibêjin “ava reș”, lê av bixwe nereș e, kevrê binî reș in. |
|
They call it black water, but the water itself is not black, the stones at the bottom of it are black. |
| 25 |
E-wir mezin bûm, sê meha wisa, ber radyê, ceyran tinebû. Melê êvarî-ș tinebû zaten, azan dida gi radizan êvarî usa. |
|
I grew up there, for three months it was like that, listening to the radio, with no electricity. There was no evening call to prayer either, he would recite (prayers, on the radio) and people went to sleep like that. |
| 26 |
Siva ke rdiabûn dîsa nav malê gund. |
|
In the morning they got up again, in their houses. |
| 27 |
Bîra te ewê tê ku te bixwe jî gudariya radya Êrîvanê kiribe? |
|
Do you remember listening to Yerevan radio? |
| 28 |
Ew tê bîra min, saʕet ḥeya nêzîka ʕesrê, hayal meyan tê bîra mi, e-bêjim pir tê bîra mi falan na, hema saet dibû ʕesir radyo didan cîkî haya kelle, apê mi dida ser pencerê jorê, wisa dikșand tiștekî dirêj hebû mîna qablokê dikșand, deng dihat lê baș nedihatin, digotin “ewa Aramê Tigran e”. |
|
I do remember, until around late afternoon, I vaguely remember it, not very well, it would be in the late afternoon, they would put the radio up at head height, my uncle would put it on the higher window ledge, that way it would pick up a signal, and there was something long like a cable, the sound would come out but not very well, they would say, “this is Aramê Tigran”. |
| 29 |
Niha hê jî çawa bêjin, ev panzde bîst sal hema usa-ş, niha jî mala me hemû pilak wana hene. Ji kasêtê berê, navê mal me pir in. |
|
Even now, how shall we say, after fifteen or twenty years, even now we have all those records in our house. There are many old cassettes in our house. |
| 30 |
Yê ḥemî ciwantî çawa dibêjin ergenlika me jî bilê me Xelîl Xemgîn guhdar dikir. Wisan, niha hêj hene. |
|
In our youth, our adolescence as they say, we would listen to Xelîl Xemgîn. Like that, we still have them. |
| 31 |
A hem usa Aramê Tigran digotin, Șêroyê Biro ez pir lê ḥez dikim. Ew ji xwe Îdirê bûye, çî Îdirî ye, ez herej stranî wî godar dikim. |
|
And that’s how they played Aram Tigran, I like Șêroyê Bro very much. He was born in Igdir, he is from Igdir, I still listen to his songs. |
| 32 |
Ew hebû strana wî ya “Esmer eman, eman”, hê jî tê gotin. Ewana têne bîran, piçûkayî. |
|
He had this song “Esmer eman, eman”, which is still sung. I remember this from my childhood. |
| 33 |
Lê zor derbas dibû, ka gund here hero çiyê, çiyê were gund. |
|
But these were hard times, to go to the mountain every day and then back to the village. |
| 34 |
Lê gundekî pirr baș e, hemû eqrebe ne diye qe pirsgirêk gund tunebû. |
|
But it is a very nice village, because everyone is related, there were no problems in the village. |
| 35 |
Gundê we vala bûbû? |
|
Was your village evacuated? |
| 36 |
Gundê me çawa vala bû, gundê me ji xwe ciyê eskerî ye, lê ji gundekî partizan e dîye hema usa destê dewletê li ser me ye. |
|
How would our village be evacuated, it was the location of a military base, but it’s a village of partisans, so the state kept tight control over us. |
| 37 |
Hema tișt dibe pêșiyê malê gund giștkî çê dibin. Pir ḥew, gundê me pir șehîd dan, pir çuy, xwe yanzdeh malabata mi șehîd da. |
|
The slightest event, and all the households in the village are affected. Our village sacrificed many martyrs, many went away, eleven people were killed in my family. |
| 38 |
Derbas bû, yanî pir gundekî welatparêz in. Hê jî ḥeya vê havînê jî gelek bedel dan. |
|
That’s the past, but it is a very patriotic village. Even until this summer they still paid a high price. |
| 39 |
Ciyîkî xweș e. Hema bîhna çiya lê tê-ș, tama/ dewlet newêre bê têkeve gund, lê hema niha çimkî gunek hemû çiya ye gelek ê-me têne wan gunda newêrin bênê. |
|
It is a nice place. There is mountain air, the state doesn’t dare enter the village, but now it is all mountainous, many of our people come to those villages, but they don’t dare to come. |
| 40 |
Malbata we, bi çi eleqedar e, çi kar dike? |
|
Your family, what do they do for living, what is their livelihood? |
| 41 |
Mala kalkê mi wana hemû gund da ne, îște heywanê wan hene, traqtorê wan hene, bîçimê dikin û ew. |
|
My grandfather’s house and others are all in the village, they have cattle, tractors, they farm and such things. |
| 42 |
Bavê mi bixwe memur bû, niha jî emeklî buye, berê tabî ḥeya çend sala, ḥeya derbasî lîsê bûm jî em tev mala kalkê xwe bûn. |
|
My father was a civil servant, but now he is retired, for some years, until I started high school, we were all in my grandfather’s house. |
| 43 |
Heya apê mi wan zewicîn, em hev veqetiyan mecbûr. |
|
When my uncle and others got married, we were separated. |
| 44 |
Bavê mi b-xwe yê me li mal e, memûr bû, hem emeklî büye. Û lê mala kalkê mi wana gi ew ê wan hene, ḥeywanê wan heye, ceh û genim îdara xwe dikin, wisa ye. |
|
My father was a civil servant, but now he is retired at home. But my grandfather’s family all have things, they have cattle, with barley and wheat, which they live on, that is how it is. |
| 45 |
Yê we jî rexê we jî pancar filan hebûn? |
|
Did you have wild plants in your region? |
| 46 |
Berê hewû, silq digotin, șeker pancari. Silq hebûn, birinc gund ewk dikirin, lê niha barij kete gundê me. HES dibêjin ya, gund/ Erez nav derbas divû, HES ket deha tișkî usa tinebû. |
|
There used to be, sugar beet they would call it, “șeker pancari”. There was sugar beet, and rice, they would plant it in the village, but now there is a dam passing through our village. What they call HES, since the Erez passed through our village, HES arrived and now there is no such thing. |
| 47 |
Tiștê berê diha nemane, çawa, çiqasî modern dibin ew tiștê berê jî diha diçin. |
|
Things like this do not exist anymore, the more it is modernised, the more the old things are lost. |
| 48 |
Lê berê tê bîra min, kartol hema usa, hûn dibêjin patat. |
|
But from back then I remember, potatoes come to my mind, you call them “petat”. |
| 49 |
Kartol, hema usa zeviyê kartol hebûn, zeviyê silqê hebûn te bîra min, lê niha tine tiștê usa. Hema niha ceh û genim û gîha. |
|
Potatoes, there were whole fields of potatoes, and fields of sugar beet, but now there is no such thing. Now there is only barley, wheat and clover. |
| 50 |
Gelek baş. Êwe, mesela ew çanda we hebû, bi șevê meselen dema em bêjin ceyran neyê filan bêvan … |
|
Did you have that culture, in the evening when there was no electricity and so on … |
| 51 |
Ha, ceyran nedibû êvarê, pîrka mi em gi top dikirin, em zarê apê min, zarê kurapê bavê min, mihele gi top diwûn. |
|
Oh, there was no electricity in the evening, my grandmother would gather us together, us and my uncles’ children, the children of my fathers’ cousins, the whole neighbourhood would come together. |
| 52 |
Dengê kê xweș e ew kulam digotin. Dengê kê nexweș e/ diya mi b-xwe dengê pir xweș e. Min digotê “dengbêjêk î” xwe. |
|
Those with nice voices would sing songs. Those with bad voices/ my mother’s voice is very nice. I used to tell her, “you are a bard”. |
| 53 |
Ger rokî bête vê mala me vir te ra bêje, dengê wî pir xweș e. |
|
If she comes to our house sometime, she will sing for you, she has a very good voice. |
| 54 |
Çirok hema usa me re digotin, ha belkî jî em bitirsin zû razên, ne-zanim ustayi digotin, em gu hiș bin. Çîrokan usa digotin. |
|
They would tell us stories like that, and we would get scared and go to sleep early, I know they told us these stories so we would be quiet. They would tell stories like that. |
| 55 |
Qe tiștek tê bîra te ji wan dema, çîrokê, meselan em bêjin tu bifikrî li ser zaroktiya xwe? |
|
Do you remember anything from those times, the story, for instance, if you think of your childhood? |
| 56 |
Çîrok, gelek çîrok hene. Ev e, Mîrza Miḥeme hema usa digotin qlasîk çîrok ew e, herkes zane. |
|
Stories, there are many stories. One is Mirza Miheme, they would tell that story, it is a classic one, everyone knows it. |
| 57 |
Yan na qutka ew tê bîra mi, digote min “Yek hebû..”, çîrok pir têne bîra min, lê nihe ez/ nayê bîra mi ez bêjim/ lê çîrok zeḥf hene. |
|
Or there is “qutka”, I remember, it was like, “One upon a time …”. I remember many stories, but now I cannot remember one to tell you/ a story/ but there are many stories. |
| 58 |
Yek perçe bê bîra te bêje! |
|
If you can remember one part you can tell it. |
| 59 |
Ee, bê bîra min ez bêjim. |
|
Good, if I remember I will tell it. |
| 60 |
Tamam. |
|
All right. |
| 61 |
Çîroka ya Serḥedî heye “ẋezala Mendel Aẋa”, pir dirêj e. Ez wî hîn bim, ez te ra bêjim rokê. |
|
There is a Serhedi story “The gazelle of Mandal Agha”, it is very long. I will learn that one and tell it to you. |
| 62 |
Xezala Mendal Aẋa. |
|
“The gazelle of Mandal Agha” |
| 63 |
Ee, a ji gundiyê me heme tu kê sual kî […] usa çîroka ẋezala Mendel Aẋa bêjin. |
|
Yes, all our villagers can remember the story of the gazelle of Mandal Agha from their childhood. |
