Turkey to protect Armenian ruins

Philadelphia Inquirer
May 5 2011

In the World:
Turkey to protect Armenian ruins

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey has launched a project to conserve two ancient
ethnic Armenian ruins, a cathedral and a church, in what is seen as a
new gesture of reconciliation toward its neighbor.

Turkey and Armenia have been locked in a bitter dispute for decades
over the mass killings of ethnic Armenians in Turkey during the last
years of the Ottoman Empire. Efforts to normalize relations have been
set back by a conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over control of
the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Turkey are Muslim
allies.

Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay said Tuesday the project, in
partnership with the New York-based World Monuments Fund, would
conserve the remains of the Ani Cathedral and the Church of the Holy
Savior in Ani in eastern Turkey.

According to the fund, Ani – “one of the world’s great cities in the
10th century” – was once the site of hundreds of religious buildings
and palaces. It stands abandoned, and the remnants of its celebrated
buildings are in a precarious state.

From: A. Papazian