A Javakhk Armenian finds light through poetry

By Anton Geissler

Poet Beglar Chragyan has published five works, the most recent of which he presented to readers in Yerevan this summer. Titled Քաոսից՝ Լույս (Light from Chaos), it includes almost 100 pieces that approach philosophy through poetry and examine the clash between the material and spiritual worlds. 

Chragyan was born in 2000 in Akhalkalaki, a municipality in Javakhk, which is an Armenian majority region in southern Georgia. Though written in Armenian, he says that his poetry takes inspiration from both Armenia and Georgia, and is addressed to all nations equally. 

“For me, there is light in every person, and I want to see this light and make it big,” he states in an interview with CivilNet. His hope is that his poetry can help other people. 

Love has always been the central focus of his work, but throughout his career its definition has changed from romantic love to love for God, nature, family, and homeland. 

He moved from Javakhk to Yerevan when he was 15 in order to study. It was in Armenia that he first realised that he would become a poet. 

After studying economics and computer science he moved abroad to work in Bangkok.

Answering a question about the reconciliation of the artistic and mathematical parts of his world, he says that it is not difficult as everything is interconnected, adding that he also loves wrestling and mountaineering. 

In 2023, he moved back to Javakhk, where he now works for the Georgian Ministry of Education as a software engineer, administering most of the region’s schools. 

The region is becoming increasingly depopulated, making Chragyan one of the few who choose to return. 

While other Javakhk Armenians have reported discrimination and lack of economic prospects, Chragyan does not note any problems as a creative Armenian living in Georgia. He describes how everybody wants to move to Russia for employment opportunities, but he himself chose to return due to his strong love for the region, its nature, and the mountains. 

Another Javakhk poet, Vahan Terian, serves as his main inspiration. “What is special about Armenian poetry is that it is mostly about sadness, because we as a people have always suffered.” 

One of his poems, which he shares with CivilNet, matches this tone. 

Chragyan has translated it into English under the title 'Someone'. The poem is his favorite as it captures “how difficult it is for someone to understand you.”

“Someone with whom my silence will speak, whether it is in laughter or sadness,” is one of the poem’s lines that seems to be a good analogy for the poet's life in the increasingly depopulated Javakhk. 

To reach a wider audience, Chragyan would like his poems to all be translated into English, but he worries that their meaning will be lost. “I feel that the poems have an Armenian worldview, and sometimes the words in English can lose their meaning.”

The poet’s latest collection is his fifth work. Chragyan first published the poetry collection Հոգուս  Աչքերը (Eyes of My Soul) in 2019, which was followed by Թաքնված Կարոտ (Hidden Longing) in 2021. Both approach love through poetry. 

In 2023, Կրկնվող Սիրո  Նոյեմբեր (November of Recurring Love) was published, which describes poetry through the novel form, before he turned to exploring philosophy through verse in his last two works - Քանդված  Կանթեղ (Broken Lamp) (2024) and Քաոսից՝ Լույս (Light Through Chaos) (2025).