Hasmik Azizyan: Ruins of 1050 year-old Ani are remains of an ancient site fallen into oblivion and abandoned by Turkey

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS: The ruins of ancient Armenian capital of Ani, the 1050th anniversary of which will be celebrated this year, are in quite endangered and decrepit state.

Secretary General of the Armenian National Committee of the International Council of Monuments and Sites Hasmik Azizyan told Armenpress that the poor state of Ani’s ruins has been registered not only by Armenian specialists, but by Global Heritage Fund as well, the results of the studies of which are presented in the organization’s report 2010, confirming the fact of the poor state of Ani ruins.

“The biggest evidence of lack of attention to the city’s ruins is that Ani does not have in Turkey a status proper to reserve-museum or any other cultural value. It has just remained under the open sky as an ancient site fallen into oblivion and abandoned by everybody,” the Secretary General of “ICOMOS-Armenia” said.

For the last time excavations have been carried out in Ani in 1998-2005, by expedition group of French archeologists headed by Jean-Pierre Mahé. The expedition has examined the urban walls, protected buildings, the endangered parts of Katoghike Church.