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ATHENS: Ararat, 'Ark' Beckon Tourists

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  • ATHENS: Ararat, 'Ark' Beckon Tourists

    ARARAT, 'ARK' BECKON TOURISTS

    Athens News Agency
    Jan 25 2008
    Greece

    Whereas Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis' milestone visit to
    Turkey late this week may have dominated much of the "weightier" news
    coming out of the closely watched EU candidate country, a distinctly
    overlooked press conference -- replete with Biblical connotations --
    took place last week in a remote and snow-covered far-east corner
    of Turkey that nevertheless offered glimpses of modern Turkey's
    unrelenting desire for development and international recognition.

    Located on a dry, elevated plain towered over by imposing Mt. Ararat
    and Lesser Ararat, the dusty border town of Doðubayazit played host
    to the off-beat press conference, where a disparate panel of Hong
    Kong media executives-cum-Christian evangelists, a handful of Turkish
    academics and scientists along with officials of the host province
    (Aðri) enthusiastically unveiled "material evidence" of the existence
    of the Biblical Noah's Ark.

    The "evidence", resembling a small bolder of a greyish colour, was
    reportedly tested by a Hong Kong lab and deemed to be petrified wood,
    according to the two men behind Hong Kong-based Noah Ark Ministries
    International, Media Evangelism Ltd. founder Andrew Yuen and HK
    documentary maker Yeung Wing-Cheung.

    Both men, who joined local mountain guides for a gruelling expedition
    atop Mt. Ararat last February, said the object was taken from an
    11.5-metre-long chunk of the same material -- called a "large wooden
    structure" in press releases -- which was found in a cave located at
    roughly 4,000 metres atop Mt. Ararat. The fabled mountain dominates
    the landscape in the rugged triangle where the modern states of
    Turkey, Iran and Armenia converge -- geographically, but certainly
    not politically. A military presence is easily discernable in the
    area, as the town hosts a well-equipped army garrison and there are
    gendarmerie checkpoints on all roads in the province, although locals
    appear more-or-less unfazed by the activity.

    Promises to give samples of the "object" to researchers and labs
    around the world for independent testing, ahead of another "Noah's
    Ark" summit in Doðubayazit in August, and access to the cave on
    the northwest side of the mount were uttered and repeated, as Yuen
    casually informed reporters that at least one piece of the material
    found in the cave will be returned to Hong Kong for display in a future
    "Noah's Ark theme park". He quickly clarified that "theme park" means
    a cultural and "inspirational" centre on a Hong Kong waterfront,
    with construction to come via local government funding and support
    by a major land developer in the former British colony.

    Asked to calculate the costs for his organisation's quest to find and
    prove that a wooden structure was still somewhere atop Turkey's highest
    peak, Yuen said "several hundreds of thousands of dollars" since 2004.

    For local residents, predominately ethnic Kurds, and central
    government-appointed officials, Ararat's potential as a draw for
    "Indiana Jones"-like pilgrims and adventurous tourists wishing
    to step-off the "beaten path" appeared incalculable. One of the
    leitmotifs stressed by the local and Hong Kong organisers of the
    conference was that all three major monotheistic faiths cite the
    story of Noah, the Flood and the Ark.

    The last time the area attracted international attention it was of
    a decidedly negative light, namely, a series of deaths in January
    2006 attributed to the H5N1 virus during the height of the "Bird Flu"
    scare around the world. The Agri area also witnessed a major Turkish
    military operation in late 1994 against Kurdish insurgents, whereas
    the mountain and the surrounding lands at one time formed the medieval
    "Armenian heartland".

    A new three-star hotel in Doðubayazit is testament to local hopes
    that venerated Ararat will again lure travellers to the remote Aðri
    and Iðdir provinces by the thousands. The deep-pocketed Hong Kong
    Chinese executives also promised to build a museum in Doðubayazit,
    a pronouncement that was met with applause in the cold auditorium
    where the presentation was held.

    "(The discovery) supports the thesis of the Ark resting on Ararat," was
    the way the city's governor, Cemalettin Demircioðlu, diplomatically
    opened the press conference, with a trio of out-of-town Turkish
    professors merely adding their belief that the Ark rests on Mt. Ararat,
    "but that more substantiated evidence (of its existence) is necessary".

    Indicative of the type of visitor local officials hope will help
    end the isolation of this under-developed and often turbulent part
    of the Near East, self-described "Ark researcher" Gerrit Aalten
    recounts several stories related to his repeated visits to the area
    and friendship with local people.

    Asked if he believes there are remains of a wooden ark atop Ararat,
    the Dutchman responds, "yes, definitely." - H. Tzanis

    Caption: A view of Ararat Mountain in the background, as pictured on
    Tuesday, 18 February 2003 from the Armenian side of the border with
    Turkey.

    --Boundary_(ID_s8NsX0h5qF7HOeSlpunWA g)--
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