Don't mention Armenia

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Ani, Eastern Anatolya, Turkey



28^th June 2014



“Every heart to love will come

But like a refugee”

Leonard Cohen, Anthem





Ani is located about 45 kms east of Kars in Turkish Kurdistan and is spectacularly bordered on its eastern side by the Akhurian river, which serves as the border with Armenia. It is a ruined medieval Armenian city-site, first mentioned in the 5^th century and standing on various trade routes, including the silk road (athough there do seem to be many branches of the silk road).

From 961 to 1045 is served as the capital of the Armenian Kingdom, with a popuation of up to 200,000. Following various conquests, plunderings and assaults, it was eventually abandoned and largely forgotten after the earthquake of 1319, but has remained a disputed territory ever since. In 1921 most of the site was ceded to Turkey, and Armenia accuses the Turks of purposely neglecting the place following an initial deliberate military attempt to completely destroy its monuments. Now what is left of Ani is a tourist attraction with an 8 lira entry fee (about US$4)t.

Having said that, there is no public transport to the place and stories of scamming by taxi drivers (which is against the trend in this part of Turkey) abound. I decided to hitch hike out and found it pretty easy (eventually being picked up by a German couple living and working in Istanbul on a driving holiday).

The thing that struck me was that throughout this vast site with its descriptions on posters about the various monuments and ruins, there is not a single mention of the word Armenia. Of course there is a long history of denial by Turkey of what the world marks as the Armenian genocide by Turkey of between 1 and 1.5 million people during and after Workd War 1. Still......

The place is very impressive despite the wide open spaces of void, and one only wonders at its splendour in the height of its glory and indeed in 1921 before some of the claimed wanton destruction by the Turks.

The ghosts of Armenian presence lie in every niche of every ruin.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ani

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Photos

Silk Road Bridge
On the left bank you'd be in Armenia

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