A disused Armenian textile factory has become a sanctuary for artists and other emigres from Russia, Iran and Ukraine whose lives have been turned upside down by war or political turmoil.
Abandoned workshops that once produced Soviet knitwear have been turned into a creative space for painters, puppet-makers and photographers in a venture that is helping to revitalise a town in decline.
"I think that for many people this was really incomprehensible: who are those people? Why are they here?... Since Majd left Iran, the country has been convulsed by protests over the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody, and she said she had no intention of going back.Torfeh Ekhlasi, a puppet maker also from Iran, said she had felt "completely paralysed by bad news" there, "but here all the people are so alive".
Abastan was established as a charity with funds from an American-Armenian philanthropist who has chosen to remain anonymous. When Reuters journalists visited last month, there were a couple of dozen people in residence - three Iranians, two Ukrainians, an Armenian, a Georgian and the rest from Russia.
Timofey Moskovkin, a Russian now working in a cafe funded by the charity, said local people in Tumanyan, a town of about 1,000 people, had treated him warmly.
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