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Excerpts from report by Azerbaijani news agency Turan on 11th August

 

Baku, 11th August: The authorities in Dogubayazit Region in eastern

Turkey did not give permission to an international mountaineering

expedition to complete the ascent of Mt Agrydag (Ararat). The Turkish

media reports that the ascent was scheduled for 10th August. On 8th

August, the 27-member group arrived in Dogubayazit. Twenty-three people

in the expedition represented Armenia, two - Russia, and one Canada and

the USA each. The refusal of the Turkish side was motivated by the fact

that the Armenians were intending to use this event for propaganda

purposes. According to Turkish sources, the Armenian delegation included

not only mountain-climbers, but also of historians, scientists, cultural

workers and the media people.

It is noteworthy that the Armenian Foreign Ministry had earlier warned

the participants in the action that the Turkish authorities would not let

them complete the ascent and suggested that they refrain from the

journey.

In the meantime, Azerbaijani mountaineers are preparing to climb

Agrydag. The ascent will take place within the framework of an

international expedition to Agrydag, which is set for late August and

early September. Saridan Mursagulov, chairman of the Azerbaijani

Mountaineering Club, told Turan news agency that the country's sportsmen

were intensively preparing for this action.

[Passage omitted: minor details]

Mursagulov said that they received an invitation from Turkish mountain

climbers after Azerbaijani mountain climbers completed the first ascent

of one of the nameless peaks in Azerbaijan and named it after the founder

of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kamal Ataturk.

The preparations for the Agrydag expedition are going on at full

stretch and the mountain-climbers are receiving assistance in this from

the Ministry of Youth and Sports. However, such a trip entails

considerable financial expenses, which is why the number of participants

in the Azerbaijani team will depend on the assistance provided to the

team by sponsors, Mursagulov pointed out.

[Guest]

While reading this article I recalled the answer of a Russian diplomat during the soviet times to a turkish diplomat's question:"Why do Armenians have Ararat on their coat of arms, it's not their's, isn't it?". He answered: "For the same reason turkey has crescend on it's flag, is it your's".