TURKEY CALLS ON ARMENIA TO COOPERATE ON RESTORATION OF ANI

Balkan Travellers
159
April 15 2009

15 April 2009 | Turkey’s Culture Minister recently called on Armenia
to cooperate on the restoration of the ancient town of Ani, which is
located on the Turkish side of border between the two countries and
has lied in ruins for the last seven centuries.

Cooperation efforts would also require a resolution of the problems
between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkey’s Culture Minister Ertugrul
Gunay told the Hurriyet Daily News publication on Monday.

The ministry’s plans for cooperation between the two countries are
not limited to restoration work, Gunay explained, adding that he
hoped to undertake many joint cultural projects with both Armenia
and Azerbaijan.

Regarding Ani, Gunay said restoration efforts will focus on the town’s
cathedral and will be supported by the World Monuments Fund. He added
that Armenian experts had recently attended a meeting on the project.

The town of Ani, which is situated in the Arpacay region of the
north-eastern province of Kars on Turkey’s border with Armenia, was the
capital of the Kingdom of Armenia between 961 and 1045. In its heyday,
at the end of the ninth century, Ani outshined Constantinople, Cairo,
and Baghdad with its splendour.

Ani, which was known as the "City of 1,001 Churches," has been in
ruins for the last seven centuries. After the First World War, the
ancient city’s remains fell into a zone of considerable political
tension. Three conflicts of Kemal Ataturk’s Turkey – with the Soviet
Union, Armenia, and the Kurdish separatists, led to severe travel
restrictions being imposed in the course of decades. The Soviets
enforced a 700-meter "security zone" into Turkish territory, where
nobody – including journalists, was allowed.

After the disintegration of the USSR things took a more liberal
turn, and the pass permits and photography ban were finally repealed
in 2004. Nowadays, only a few tumbledown churches, some sections
of a castle and Marco Polo’s bridge remain from what used to be a
magnificent city.

Another point of tension in recent years has been the stone quarry
on the Armenian side of the border across from Ani. Turkey has blamed
the explosions at the quarry for accelerating the destruction of the
ancient town. According to the publication, its complaints to the
International Council on Monuments and Sites, a sub-department of
UNESCO, resulted in Armenia’s halt of the blasting activities.