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SAMVEL KARAPETYAN: "ARMENIANS ALSO GUILTY OF CAUSING DAMAGE TO ANI"
http://hetq.am/eng/news/19730/samvel-karapetyan-armenians-also-guilty-of-causing-damage-to-ani.html
12:49, October 22, 2012
In the following video, Samvel Karapetyan, who heads the Yerevan
branch of the NGO Research on Armenian Architecture, recounts his
first visit to Ani in 2000 and what he and his team experienced when
they felt the force of explosions emanating from a touf stone quarry
across the Akhourian River in Armenia.
Karapetyan and his team had joined a pilgrimage organized by Archbishop
Mesrob Ashjian, now deceased.
Karapetyan relates that he was approached by Turkish police and
soldiers who requested that he return to Armenia and urge the
government to stop such explosions that were damaging Ani.
The Armenian researcher says he first thought this to be a ploy by
the Turks but after feeling the power of two blasts in the span of
thirty minutes, he was convinced that the explosions were indeed
causing damage to Ani.
He even convinced Turkish police to allow him to take photos of the
smoke rising over the touf quarry on the Armenian side of the border.
Karapetyan points out that even though, during his several subsequent
trips to Ani, he has witnessed the premeditated and wanton destruction
of Ani's architectural legacy by the Turks, the fact that Armenia
continued the quarry explosions till 2004-2005 played into the hands
of Turkey.
"Whenever we protested their destructive actions, the Turks always
countered by pointing to our own negligent actions," Karapetyan notes
in the video, adding that this just goes to prove that Armenia, and
many Armenians, are less than sincere when they speak about the need
to protect and preserve their own cultural patrimony.
http://hetq.am/eng/news/19730/samvel-karapetyan-armenians-also-guilty-of-causing-damage-to-ani.html
12:49, October 22, 2012
In the following video, Samvel Karapetyan, who heads the Yerevan
branch of the NGO Research on Armenian Architecture, recounts his
first visit to Ani in 2000 and what he and his team experienced when
they felt the force of explosions emanating from a touf stone quarry
across the Akhourian River in Armenia.
Karapetyan and his team had joined a pilgrimage organized by Archbishop
Mesrob Ashjian, now deceased.
Karapetyan relates that he was approached by Turkish police and
soldiers who requested that he return to Armenia and urge the
government to stop such explosions that were damaging Ani.
The Armenian researcher says he first thought this to be a ploy by
the Turks but after feeling the power of two blasts in the span of
thirty minutes, he was convinced that the explosions were indeed
causing damage to Ani.
He even convinced Turkish police to allow him to take photos of the
smoke rising over the touf quarry on the Armenian side of the border.
Karapetyan points out that even though, during his several subsequent
trips to Ani, he has witnessed the premeditated and wanton destruction
of Ani's architectural legacy by the Turks, the fact that Armenia
continued the quarry explosions till 2004-2005 played into the hands
of Turkey.
"Whenever we protested their destructive actions, the Turks always
countered by pointing to our own negligent actions," Karapetyan notes
in the video, adding that this just goes to prove that Armenia, and
many Armenians, are less than sincere when they speak about the need
to protect and preserve their own cultural patrimony.