Monumental Effort: Scotsman Wants To Prove Azeri

[Nakharar]

From our friend Steve (Bellthecat) who does more than we do complaining:

 

http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArti...ID=1040&lng=eng

 

Monumental Effort: Scotsman wants to prove Azeri policy of cultural destruction in Nakhijevan

 

By Gayane Mkrtchyan

ArmeniaNow reporter

 

A Scotsman, Steven Sim, takes out books about Armenian historical and cultural monuments from his backpack, as well as maps of contemporary and historical Armenian territories. He says that he is in love with Armenian monuments, and this love was born in him 20 years ago when he visited the ruins of Ani, once Armenia’s capital, and made his first photograph there.

 

“During these years I visited Turkey many times and photographed Armenian monuments. I even photographed the monuments in the waters of the river Arax that remained under water when the river’s dams were built,” says the ???? year old ????. Armenian monuments are of interest to me by their original beauty, and because they are not known to the world.”

 

Currently on one of his visits to Armenia, Sim was just in Nakhijevan, visiting the famous Armenian cemetery in Nor Jugha, from where he returned angry and disappointed.

 

“I was advised to leave the place as soon as possible unless I wanted trouble,” Sim says.

 

Ten years ago Sim was in Iran and saw the Jugha khachkars across the border. He says that from that moment he had been longing to visit the place and see the cultural values of world importance.

 

“Generally, the photographs of the monuments of Nakhijevan were published in numerous books. I was also advised to go and see them by the chairman of the Research on Armenian Architecture organization Armen Hakhnazaryan, with whom I have close ties,” says Sim.

 

Sim fulfilled his dream two weeks ago. He went to Turkey, and from there to Nakhijevan (which is under Azerbaijan rule), then he took a train to Jugha to see the khachkars of the cemetery on the road, as the railway directly passes by the cemetery. But he was quickly spotted as a foreigner. Sim says that controllers strictly prohibited him from taking photographs or even to look out of the window.

 

“They did everything to distract my attention, even by treating me to tea,” Sim says. “Before reaching Jugha two of the controllers left the compartment and I had time to look through the window. I was taken aback, because there was not a single standing khachkar (stone cross) there. All of them were lying, facing the ground, or ruined. Meanwhile, 10 years ago I saw from across the border 2,000 standing khachkars.”

 

The Jugha cemetery situated on a territory of 1,600 sq. meters is located on the west side of Jugha – on three hills. It is famous for its khachkars. In 1648, according to the data of traveler Alexander Rodes, it had 10,000 well-preserved khachkars. In 1903-1904, after the construction of a railway, along with the destruction of a number of the town’s monuments also destroyed were part of the cemetery’s khachkars. During that time there were 5,000 standing and collapsed khachkars registered. According to the data of 1915 and then 1928-29, there were up to 3,000 khachkars and a few thousand flat, two-edged, cap-shaped tombstones. In 1971-1973, only 2,707 were preserved in Jugha, and in the cemeteries of churches and the All-Savior monastery and elsewhere there were 250 khachkars, and 1,000 tombstones.

 

Sim says that a great part of the cemetery situated on a hill next to Jugha does not exist anymore. The khachkars on the other two hills are turned upside down.

 

In 1998-1999, Iranian-Armenian architects photographed evidence that the Azeris were using bulldozers to destroy the last vestiges of Armenian culture in the territory across the Arax.

 

“What I saw was real savageness, but I cannot say that they did not leave anything, since there are still lying khachkars,” says Sim.

 

After Jugha he decided to go to see the current condition of the churches that he saw in books.

 

He took a taxi from Nakhijevan????? to the town of Abrakunis to see Surb Karapet Church (1381). Sim photographed from the same spot, the same scene that he saw in the books, but without the church.

 

“They razed it to the ground, they did not leave even the slightest thing reminding of the church, it was totally cleared. When I asked the locals where the village church was, they showed the empty territory situated near the entrance. The only thing that reminds of the existence of a church in the past was the pieces of brick buried in the ground,” says Sim.

 

After Abrakunis he went north and visited the villages of Khanega, Ilandagh (Odzasar) and Khachi Sar. There he also found ruined and destroyed Armenian monuments and churches. The following day he took a bus to Ordubad to go to on to Agulis from there. However, the police prohibited him from going to Agulis. They even prohibited him to leave the center of the town.

 

“I did not oppose the ban, as tension was already obvious. Officially the purpose of my visit there was to see Islamic and Armenian holy places. In Nakhijevan they treat foreigners with suspicion. It does not matter whether you are an Armenian or a representative of another nationality. In Ordubad, too, every Armenian thing was destroyed,” he says.

 

Thereafter, Sim went to one of the remotest regions of Nakhijevan to see whether such a situation was everywhere. He went to the village of Shorut. What Sim saw there brought him to one conviction: “It is a special state policy being implemented throughout Nakhijevan.”

 

Nothing is left of the churches once situated in Shorut – the churches of Patriarch Hakob, Grigor Lusavorich, Surb Stepanos, Surb Astvatsatsin, nor the khachkars dated 924-926. The villagers claim that there were no Armenian churches there. The oldest of them even began to speak Armenian with Sim to try to identify his nationality.

 

Having visited Turkey and Azerbaijan, studying the Armenian monuments Sim says: “I don’t think that there is a central government program in Turkey to destroy monuments. There, it is even possible to purchase travel guides telling about numerous Armenian churches. But a special state policy of destruction is being implemented in Azerbaijan. In Turkey, after 90 years of staying empty, there are still standing churches today, meanwhile in Nakhijevan, all have been destroyed within just 10 years.”

 

After Shorut Sim returned to Turkey, and from there came to Armenia.

 

“I raise my voice of protest and want everybody to listen to me. If such monuments are being destroyed, then it is an evil deed directed against all of mankind,” Sim said on a visit to ArmeniaNow newsroom. “The khachkars of Jugha are cultural values of international importance. Once, the problem was raised at UNESCO, however Azerbaijan did not receive its representatives, which shows that they are hiding the facts. And the photographs are very, very important. It will be possible to prove the truth through them.”

[skhara]

It is a good thing that the photographs exist.

 

This dam oil-politics is getting on my nerves. There have been numerous examples where Azeris showed themselves to be the animals that they are right in front of "western" officials. Although these officials had personal anger/disgust at the Azeris actions -- nothing changes. They understand dam well the Armenian position over NKR, I think on the personal level again, many of them agree, but oil-politics is oil-politics.

[Arpa]

Why was steve, Bellthecat silenced, i,e. bnned from here?

From the correspondence available I gathered as much as that he had become personal with some. I may not have seen those posts but what I had seen of his had very litle to be censored.

 

As to Armenian culture in Nakhjavan, notice the way I spell it, without the "i" and "e", I will come back to that to refresh our memories. Nothing new, I have intimated before that that Armenian province, under Azeri control now, must be reclaimed. In fact, when the Artsakh saga began, we here in the Diaspora, who view Armenia from a geographically western perspective were hoping that Nakhjavan would have been our first priority. That may be another can of worms that we may discuss under another subject topic.

 

Those SSO's! They have the gall to claim that Armenians are obliterating Azeri cultural landmarks. Next time we will republish the map as of 1900 i.e no Azerbaijan, whatever the hell it may mean.

[skhara]

who view Armenia from a geographically western perspective were hoping that Nakhjavan would have been our first priority.

 

It couldn't be the first priority, there are no Armenians left there.

 

 

Oh and cheers to Steve.

Edited September 5, 2005 by skhara

[Nakharar]

Why was steve, Bellthecat silenced, i,e. bnned from here?

From the correspondence available I gathered as much as that he had become personal with some. I may not have seen those posts but what I had seen of his had very litle to be censored.

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Banned about a trivial nothing. An exchange with Thoth was the main reason, who incidentally was also banned at a much later date. The gods here have a low tolerance threshold and who are we to question them lest we invoke their wrath.

[Verginne]

You might want to ask his permission before you talk about him or his work here. Isn't Thoth always causing trouble...the guy snaps when anybody disagrees with him. He is certifiable.

 

I don't blame Steve for being mad at this place. This is not the first nor the last place that Thoth acted out.

[ED]

Banned about a trivial nothing. An exchange with Thoth was the main reason, who incidentally was also banned at a much later date. The gods here have a low tolerance threshold and who are we to question them lest we invoke their wrath. 

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for the record, Steve was banned NOT becouse of his work, I personaly admire and like very much what he did/does, I often visit his web site, Steve was banned becouse he acted foolish, NaKharar, there is no gods here, every one is subject to a warning and being banned, including "gods" and use proper aproch when addresing to mods or administration.

[Azat]

Let me also add that Steve was banned at the same time as Winston. If anything he was "banned" later as he decided to join in 20 different names before he gave up

[Nakharar]

for the record, Steve was banned NOT becouse of his work, I personaly admire and like very much what he did/does, I often visit his web site, Steve was banned  becouse he acted foolish, NaKharar, there is no gods here, every one is subject to a warning and being banned, including "gods" and use proper aproch when addresing to mods or administration.

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Whatever you say. But the last section in your last sentence shows that you put yourself above us. Remember the Roman saying: Who will guard the guards?

[vava]

Whatever you say. But the last section in your last sentence shows that you put yourself above us. Remember the Roman saying: Who will guard the guards?

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Nakharar,

 

No one here considers himself/herself 'above' anyone. On the same token, no one likes to be referred to in a pejorative manner - as you did earlier.

 

A lot goes on behind the seens that you folks may not know of - there are often friendly warnings before even an 'official' warning. Sometimes comments/posts that violate the code of conduct are removed before most of you get a chance to see what's going on. No one gets banned for a trivial matter - bannings, more often than not, are the result of consistent rule-breaking, and/or not heeding warnings about certain behaviour.

 

We don't have vendettas, and we are not power-hungry megalomaniacs out to 'get' anyone. Please - it's just a discussion board. Let's not turn this thread into a tit-for-tat....

[vava]

And I think we all admire & respect Steve for his works - many of us have congratulated and thanked him. It's unfortunate that things turned the way they did....

[Armat]

I give credit for someone wanting to be here bad enough to try twenty different names.We should invite him back and declare his pro-Armenian deeds raised his good karma hence we could start with clean sheet.

[Arpa]

I give credit for someone wanting to be here bad enough to try twenty different names.We should invite him back and declare his pro-Armenian deeds raised his good karma hence we could start with clean sheet.

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I second the motion. With a stipulation that he remain above responding to catcalls.

Edited September 7, 2005 by Arpa

[DominO]

And I think we all admire & respect Steve for his works - many of us have congratulated and thanked him. It's unfortunate that things turned the way they did....

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And I even saw him in person this summer. That, he don't know of.

[Azat]

And I even saw the misterious Fadiushka this summer. Mine is a bigger sighting.

[vava]

[DominO]

I give credit for someone wanting to be here bad enough to try twenty different names.We should invite him back and declare his pro-Armenian deeds raised his good karma hence we could start with clean sheet.

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I don't know if there is any way to raise the Karma enough with the minus few hundreds he got by blasting hyeforum in anyway possible elsewhere. I'll hammer MosJan until he let Steve in, the day Steve take off his boxers and tell Aliev to kiss his @ss.

Edited September 7, 2005 by QueBeceR

[DominO]

Mine is a bigger sighting.

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Thank you.

[skhara]

I give credit for someone wanting to be here bad enough to try twenty different names.We should invite him back and declare his pro-Armenian deeds raised his good karma hence we could start with clean sheet.

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He had to be creative. I was disappointed when he kept getting banned. All the different names were funny though. It was funny and sad at the same time.

[Ata Donme]

I second the motion. With a stipulation that he remain above responding to catcalls.

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Huh, what kind of Forum is this?

Hyeforum I don't think.

A man like Steve, a great hero, is banned?

Oh so typically Armenian, back stabbing the heros...

 

Arpa, a Pus*y like you is well versed in Catcalls, and you expect no response? huh.

 

I think the general motive of this Site is to legally eliminate anyone who has differing views and to just use the Site as a propaganda vehicle for Oooo soooo 100% Armenians who luv Horavadz and Rabiz and long boring cut 'n' paste jobs and just happen to live in America LOL!

[MosJan]

ohh boyyy

your really trying hard to find the fast way out of HyeForum

[Nakharar]

A hero is one who does what he can. The others don't.

 

I get these quotes in my mailbox everyday.

 

Hero is a little bit far fetched, but we Armenians sure are couch potatoes (or sloths) compared to him.

 

All we do is lament these artefacts after they are gone. A tee bit late in my opinion. A good idea would be to start a campaign to exclude Turkey from the Unesco World Heritage Program unless all Armenian artefacts and buildings are safeguarded i.e. not destroyed. And persuade the Council of Europe to not only reprimand but force them to comply with the various Conventions of the Council and Unesco or freeze their membership if they don't comply. This can be coupled with other demands (such as the Roman ruins in Eastern Turkey and others), so that it doesn't look like Armenian demands only. It should be up to AGBU or ANCA to start a campaign, but it has to be a continuous effort. I don't think that they would be interested in such a campaign though, given the current political climate.

[Dave]

Hero is a little bit far fetched, but we Armenians sure are couch potatoes (or sloths) compared to him.

 

You really think we Armenians would be legally allowed to visit Nakhichevan?

 

I remember that last year, a Bulgarian-Armenian tried to go to Baku to comment on a soccer match between the Bulgarian and Azerbaijani teams. The airport guards stopped him and he was questioned as if he was a terrorist, even though he, his parents, and his grand-parents weren't born in Armenia. He had to return to Bulgaria... I'm sure he would have been executed on the spot, if he hadn't been a popular sports reporter in Bulgaria.

Edited September 24, 2005 by Dave

[Anonymouse]

Isn't Thoth always causing trouble...the guy snaps when anybody disagrees with him.  He is certifiable. 

 

I don't blame Steve for being mad at this place.  This is not the first nor the last place that Thoth acted out.

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Boy, do I know.

Edited September 24, 2005 by Anonymouse