The Iranian merchant from a village near the city of Meshginshahr in the Iranian northwestern Province of Ardebil, was exiled to Siberia in 1940s, following a decision by Stalin to deport or send to exile foreigners living in the country.
His wife and three daughters never knew about his bad fate in the former Soviet Union, though they remained hopeful for years for their father to get back home some day. But Norouz never returned.
After serving his sentence in Siberia, he went to the city of Ganja in Soviet-controlled Azerbaijan and started a new life.
He married again and had three children; two sons and a daughter.
Norouz and his two sons died as a result of unknown reasons and they never saw disintegration of the Soviet Union and independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Their death left alone Ludmilla his only daughter and her loneliness lasted a long time. Yet, loneliness was not her ultimate fate.
After the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the 1990s and when the Iranian and Azeri nationals were allowed to freely commute on both sides of the borders of the neighboring nations, Norouz' relatives tried to find traces of the lost Iranian trader. His grandson finally found him but buried in a cemetery.
But identification of Norouz' tomb, soon revealed that the former Iranian businessman had a daughter named Ludmilla who was still alive.
I could remember my father's homesickness; since I was a little child I was eagerly waiting for a day to meet my two half-sisters, she told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
Ludmilla and her elder half-sisters, Zivar and Safiyyeh, on Thursday reunited in tears and laughers.
Her arrival in the Village of Tabnaq near Meshginshahr and reunion of the three sisters was warmly welcomed by the people there.
Tears in her eyes, Ludmilla, the 63-year-old lady from Azerbaijan, said she thanked God to give her the chance to be reunited with her sisters after so many years.
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Ardebil, Feb 19, IRNA – Norouz Barpoush, an Iranian tradesman, who used to travel between Iran and former Soviet Union on usual business trips around 80 years ago, had no idea that he would be arrested and sent to a prison in Siberia by Joseph Stalin's government.
