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    Ani, a disputed city

    Haunted by history

    Jun 15th 2006 | ANI
    > > From The Economist print edition

    The ruins of a contested capital are still hostage to geopolitics

    WHATEVER you think about ghosts, it is hard to speak of this desolate
    plateau on Turkey's eastern edge without using the word "haunted". A
    millennium ago, Ani rivalled Byzantium as one of the great cities
    of the Christian world. At its height, the Armenian capital had
    over 100,000 inhabitants. Now all that stands is an impressive wall,
    and the gaunt but beautiful remains of churches and mosques randomly
    scattered across a vast expanse of grassy earth. On a hot day in early
    summer, with flowers blooming and birds swooping through the ruins,
    the place is utterly empty.

    Ani's location at one of Eurasia's nodal points, where rival
    civilisations either clash or co-operate, has been both a blessing and
    a curse. The "silk route" linking Byzantium with China ran through
    it. But less than a century after it became the Armenian capital in
    961, the city began falling victim to waves of conquerors, including
    Seljuk Turks, Georgians and Mongols. In 1319 it was devastated by
    an earthquake.

    Even as a ruin, Ani has been a disputed city. In 1921 when most
    of the site was ceded to Turkey, the Armenians were dismayed. They
    have since accused the Turks of neglecting the place in a spirit of
    chauvinism. The Turks retort that Ani's remains have been shaken by
    blasts from a quarry on the Armenian side of the border.

    Turkey's authorities insist that they are doing their best to conserve
    and develop the site. "By restoring Ani, we'll make a contribution
    to humanity," says Mehmet Ufuk Erden, the local governor. "We will
    start with one church and one mosque, and over time we will include
    every single monument." The culture ministry has listed Ani, with
    an Armenian church on an island in Lake Van, among the sites it is
    keenest to conserve. For a country that was reluctant, until recently,
    to accept the cultural heritage of non-Turks, this is a big change.

    But some scholars say more is needed. "Piecemeal restoration is no
    substitute for a master plan for Ani as a whole," argues Stefaan
    Poortman of the Global Heritage Fund, a California-based conservation
    group that helps to manage endangered historic sites. And making
    a master plan for a site straddling two countries is impossible
    unless they co-operate. Could it happen? In September, some 14 Black
    Sea countries hope to meet in Istanbul to dicuss their cultural
    heritage. So Turks and Armenians will get a chance to talk about Ani,
    if history's ghosts can be exorcised
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