Georgian churches in Turkey doomed to destruction

[Stormig]

Georgian churches in Turkey doomed to destruction

From: "Katia M. Peltekian"

Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 22:39:38 PDT

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Georgian Times

June 12 2002

 

Georgian churches in Turkey doomed to destruction

 

From New York Times to Georgian Times

 

By Natia Tsulukidze

 

It has been a couple of weeks since endangered Georgian churches in

Turkey started making headlines. Much is being said with very little

insight into the problem. Everything started with an article by the

American journalist John Ash published in the May 12th issue of the

New York Times. He was traveling in Turkey and came across some

Georgian churches by complete accident. "They left us nearly

breathless from amazement. Their sheer scale and ambition reminded us

of Chartres, yet these were much earlier. Clearly the people of this

small and obscure Georgian principality had been far in advance of

Western Europe."

 

We decided to look into the subject and must admit that our "journey"

was much more tiring than that of the American journalist as we

travelled into a continuous circle from the Ministry of Culture to

the Department of Monument Preservation then to the Ministry of

Urbanization and Construction then to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

and finally to the Consulate of Georgia to Turkey and although the

article is available in both the New York Times and Turkish Daily

News, it was us who broke some of the essential details to the

Georgian authorities based on the John Ash article. For instance, the

information on the construction and contracting companies investing

money in the dam project. What was very frustrating was that MERAB

NIKOLEISHVILI, the Deputy Minister of Urbanization and Construction

told our reporter that he does not have any exact information about

what is going on and as far as he is aware, there are no churches in

the area that is going to be flooded. In reply to our question on why

they do not set up a special committee comprised of experts to get a

better assessment of the problem, Nikoleishvili said that if the

journalists reporting the problem point out which churches are

located in the area to be flooded, then he would start investigating

the subject.

 

So, for Mr. Nikoleishvili's information, the American journalist

reports: "According to the web site of the Artvin provincial

government the plan scheduled for completion in 2008, calls for 10

dams on the Georgian border. It goes on to state that virtually the

whole 300-mile valley would be flooded. The waters will inevitably

spread into the valleys of the Coruh's many tributaries, at least two

of which will also have dams of their own. At least 15 villages and

small towns will be drowned or otherwise rendered uninhabitable, and,

again according to the provincial government, at least 15,000 people

will by displaced in Artvin alone.

 

The drowning of Yusufeli would destroy tourism and a landscape of

primordial splendour would be changed beyond recognition. And what of

the region's other great attraction, the Georgian churches? Of the

ones that lie closest to Yusufeli and the Coruh, Ishan is so high

that the waters would not touch it but since the valley below it

would be flooded, it is difficult to know how anyone would get to it.

The case of the exquisite monastery of Dort Kilse is much more

worrying. There are two churches (one with priceless frescoes), a

scriptorium and a magnificent refectory. The monastery is hidden in

an idyllic wooded valley just a few miles from the village of

Tekkale, but if the Yusefeli dam is completed Tekkale will be

submerged. Dort Kilise stand higher than Tekkale, but the climb is

neither long nor steep, and the dam is projected to be more than 900

feet high. This should be more then enough to doom the place. Even if

it is escapes drowning, it would presumably be cut off from the

outside world, and the rapidly fading frescoes are in urgent need of

conservation. Small wonder that the Turkish Chamber of Architects has

complained in an Internet publication, with some bitterness, that the

entire project was planned without consideration of its cultural and

environmental consequences…. construction of the first three dams on

the lower Coruh is already well advanced. Last year there was no sign

of construction at Yusufeli, so there is perhaps a faint hope that

the government will yet curtail the project. I am not optimistic.

According to some reports, there are plans to bulldoze the town this

July, even before it is flooded."

 

It is an utter irony of fate that the Turkish Chamber of Architects

is more concerned than the Georgian officials who have no leverage or

political will to interfere. All of them rely on Giorgi Janjgava, the

Consul-General of Georgia in Turkey who is not responsible for

setting up a group of experts or conduct an investigation. They fear

that it could strain relations with Turkey, although it is hard to

believe that there cannot be found any ways to deal with the problem.

It mostly needs strong public opinion. For example, protests in

Britain were so strong that a British investor was forced to pull

out. "Turks, of course, do not bear all the blame for the likely

despoiling of this dramatically beautiful region. It could not happen

without foreign investment. A chief backer has been the French

contracting and construction company Spic Batignolle of which 46% is

owned by the British company Amec. In March, however, in response to

widespread criticism in Britain, Amec pulled out of the deal.

 

This might seem to put the plan in some doubt. But Erol Calimi, head

of the dams unit of Turkey's general Directorate of State Hydraulic

Works, says: "It is true that Amec has pulled out. However, its share

of the project was only 9 to 10 percent, not 46 percent. I wouldn't

know their reasons for this decision since I am involved in the

technical aspects of the project. Otherwise, Spic Batignolle is still

the main contractor for the project. The project is moving ahead and

the Treasury Department is now assessing its financial aspects."

 

Minister of Culture SESILI GOGIBERIDZE told us that the article

published in the New York Times on May 12 does not correspond to the

reality of the situation and she referred to an official letter from

Giorgi Janjgava, the Consul-General of Georgia to Turkey. Strangely

enough, they could not find the letter in their office and the

minister was too busy visiting the Kolga theatre to allow some extra

time for providing further explanations around the problem, so they

sent us to the Department of Monument Protection where we finally

obtained Mr. Janjgava's letter, the only official source of

information. The letter, burdened with the numerous signatures of

various officials forwarding it to each other reads as follows: "I

inform you that some time ago I was in Artvin, and visited the

Deriner dam which is under construction and its surroundings. For the

time being the construction process has not damaged Georgian

churches. The closest churches to the dam are Doliskana (in good

condition), Opiza (destroyed) and Khandzta (in poor condition).

According to our visual observation the dam construction has not

damaged them yet"

 

In the Monument Protection Department we interviewed MALAKIA DVALI,

the chief architect of the Department.

 

- What information do you have about the current condition of

Georgian churches in Turkey?

 

- We have not received any information, we expect that we should be

informed through diplomatic channels, in particular the Georgian

embassy to Turkey should provide information through the Foreign

Ministry. But it seems that information regarding the dam

construction is confidential.

 

- This information is not absolutely confidential as a travelling

American journalist could learn about the project and construction

companies, their shares in the project and provided quite concrete

facts.

 

- What we actually can refer to is an official letter from Gia

Janjgava.

 

- But this letter relies only on visual observation, which is

absolutely insufficient to study the conditions of the churches. And

it remains still very unclear what their fate will be when the dam

construction is completed, what consequences will follow and what the

impact will be on the monuments.

 

- This is really superficial information and does not describe the

actual situation. Mr. Janjgava mentions only a few Georgian churches,

but there are hundreds more there, which are not given even minor

attention and protection. Not long ago the south-eastern part of

Oshki was destroyed, relief figures depicted on the walls of the

churches were totally devastated, if we do not pay proper attention

it will be impossible to maintain these churches.

 

- If tomorrow you learn for sure about the dam construction and its

negative impact on churches what means and leverage do you have to

protect these historical monuments?

 

- We have no means. Under international legislation, historical

monuments are protected by those states on whose territories the

monuments are located. Therefore, it is a matter for Turkey and we

cannot interfere.

 

- Could not you send a letter of protest to international

organizations?

 

- If we resort to protest letters and state that Turkey does not

protect Georgian monuments, I am afraid we may insult Turkey.

 

- The construction of the dam will flood the Tao-Klarjet area and

will consequently destroy Georgian monuments. Does this not mean that

they are consciously neglecting Georgian monuments?

 

- Of course, but we do not have experts who can confirm the

information.

 

- Do you have any future plans envisaging detailed study of the issue

and taking concrete measures?

 

- There is no plan for the time being. We should be commissioned to

study the subject. We cannot act independently.

 

For background historical and architectural information we met DAVID

KHOSHTARIA, an expert from the Georgian Institute of Art History, art

critic:

 

- "The region of Tao-Klarjeti (currently in Turkey) has a special

importance in Georgian history as the unified Georgian state emerged

in the area. There are a huge number of historical monuments of great

historical and architectural importance, but few of them are being

studied or described. These are mainly churches from the 9th and 10th

centuries and the majority of them are in a worryingly bad condition.

They have not been repaired since the 16th century. Many of them are

already completely destroyed and even the ruins are impossible to

find.

 

In 1553 this area was conquered by Turkey and since then it has been

absolutely isolated from Georgia. Some of the Georgian churches have

been transformed into mosques, such as Oshk and Ishkhan and that's

why these churches are relatively in good conditions.

 

In order to identify what danger the dam will present, it is

necessary to obtain exact data. Thinking logically, the valley of the

Chorokh river is quite narrow and dam construction on that river even

without flooding the territory will cause environmental changes which

in turn will damage the churches. If we made a careful analysis of

the construction project, we could precisely identify what the

possible consequences might be. However, I do not imagine we could

stop the construction process, although action taken by the Georgian

side may achieve certain positive changes, even though Georgia no

longer has any rights over these churches. Turkey is less concerned

with the cultural heritage of other countries located on its

territory and this was one of the main reasons for rejecting its

acceptance into the European Union. So I assume that if Georgia

addresses international organizations it will bear positive results.

 

Finally we spoke with Mr. GIORGI JANJGAVA, the Consul-General of

Georgia to Turkey who proved to be most competent among those who

were directly responsible for the problem and also very much

contrasting in terms of his diplomatic manner and media availability,

which compared to other officials deserves much appreciation.

 

- Mr. Janjgava, your official letter explaining the situation

concerning Georgian monuments is the only source of reference for the

Georgian officials concerned. Most likely, it would be you who could

provide some additional information.

 

- It is beyond our competence to fully control the situation although

we do our best to remain well-informed and watch closely the

developments to take preventive measures if need be, but it's still

hard to identify what these measures can be as the churches are

located on the territory of another sovereign state and we cannot

interfere in any way.

 

- Yes, this was exactly what I wanted to ask you. Are there any

levers you can use if the churches are really endangered?

 

- Well, we could appeal to UNESCO and other international

institutions to take action, but of course, we should be careful and

tactful to avoid straining relations with our neighbour. On the other

hand, there is no expert conclusion and we may be making a storm in a

teacup. What we must do in the first place is to demand consideration

of the construction project and carefully analyse what danger it

could pose to the region in terms of environmental and cultural

impact and consequences

 

- Who is responsible for making this demand?

 

- It must be done through the Ministry of Culture and highly

qualified experts must be involved.

 

So here we are again -in the Ministry of Culture -where we started

travelling in the vicious circle.

 

The absence of any plan, the absence of any specific position, the

absence of information - this is sadly the Georgian reality, which

also means the absence and avoidance responsibility. For instance,

for the football fan Deputy Chairman of the Monument Protection

Department Paata Gaprindashvili, Georgian Culture has obviously long

been among the losers and now he has nothing to care about but

watching football in his office so that he could not allow even a

minute to churches doomed to destruction.

[Rubo]

[ December 24, 2002, 08:20 AM: Message edited by: Rubo ]

[Stormig]

What does all that have to do with architectural structures that are endangered, much in the same way Armenian ones are and Zeugma went under the water, all in the same country? Does it hurt to know, too?

If it concerns you, in the years before the Genocide, you didn't have Georgians in those places mentioned above. Some of the churches were abandoned, but some were being used by Armenians who were the visible minority there. I don't care if it makes a difference for you or not, but I hope YOU get my point.

[Stormig]

I believe that has been discussed an ample number of times before on Hye Forum. However, if this has gone un-noticed, may I suggest VirtualAni:

 

http://www.virtualani.freeserve.co.uk/

 

Check it out - it now also has a Turkish version:

 

http://www.virtualani.freeserve.co.uk/turkish.htm

[koko]

Thank u. Iv seen the site about Ani before. I wrote this as a comment to the article that was posted, ok.

[koko]

Wich georgian churches? lol. They are all armenian churches in Armenia, and in Georgia for that matter.

[koko]

Why not speak about the thousands of armenian chuches in turkey?? What about the georgian alphabet written by Mesrob Mashdots? They are jelous at armenians ...thats beacuase they don't tell the truth, dear readers. The armenians people, WE, have worked for Free all this time, its time to get something BACK. PAYBACK , TIME!!!!!

[Stormig]

On a side note... Georgian churches are not Armenian churches.

[MosJan]

Their was a program on H1 Armenian TV not to long a go – it was about Armenia cemetery - most of our Masters like Gusan Sheram – Hovanes Tumanyan are berried in this cemetery

In the bingeing of the program Shevardnadze was pleasing flowers on Tomanians or Raffis grave. Cemetery was brand new – but soon after it started to show some pictures from 2 years a go – cemetery was in terrible shape – bracken tombstones – and it was not the first time – it has happened at list twice before – will Armenian pantone has been rebuild and new tombstones are –placed one more time – haw long will this one last ? – who knows.

 

It’s amazing one of the old Georgians was saying that on the day of Sherams burial over 80,000 came to say firewall to the master, Armenians and Georgians next to each other - but 20 years after Gusans gravesite was demolished beyond recognition. Haw can you sing his songs on your doughtes wedding day –or n your mothers birthday – but at the same time disrespect him and his grave.

 

I cant blame everyone – we and the Georgians go back long ways – I to have a good Georgian friend – one of the best examples was VAkhtang Kikabidze and Mher m@krchyan - one of the best friends in the world – even the tombstone on Mhers grave was pied and ordered by Vakhtang – I guess each and everyone has something good something bad – haw much do Armenians like Georgians ? just us much Georgiana’s like Armenians~ it’s a two way street and if one of us is saying that way do I care for a gorgonian church - ? it’s not the church – it’s not the gorgonian or Armenian – it’s the piece of the history / one small part of a coulter that being destroyed, nothing more nothing less. Two wrongs never make it right – if Georgians have not helped Armenians or have never heed the guts to say anything regarding Armenian cultural monuments that have been destroyed in Georgia or in turkey, that those not mean that we Armenian need to be like them.

[THOTH]

Super comment MosJan - exactly the point.

[vava]

Vahan, I understand your point of view. But this is the sort of attitude that we, as Armenians, have to strive to change in our own communities. We are constantly berating other cultures/nationalities for not 'remembering', or not 'acknowledging' Armenian contributions to art/culture & society in general. One of our biggest complaints about average Americans is that they are often ethnocentric (or rather Ameri-centric). They do not know much about the world outside the US, not to mention Armenia. We musn't fall into the same boat. We cannot continue to ask for acknowedgement or ask for others to 'care' about our problems/issues, if we do not 'care' for theirs.

[MosJan]

Vahan jan I know

 

gitem barekam lav gitem - / - just like in Azerbaijan - who remembers Armenians - who have build backu ? Anyone? - nop - not many will remember the Armenian who have contributed and helped Georgians for centuries – just like not many will remember the contributions of Armenians in USA or libanan or ~~~~, not many Armenians will even know that thay are Armenians in next 100 years.

 

but ageing backu is backu tibilisy is tibilisy - we do have some problems - but we are Armenians and wan we present ourselves to the world us a nation of coulter and traditions - we should respect and help preserve coulters of our neighbors -

good friend of mind told me once

 

we should not burn our neighbors house - since it's nicer then ours - just to have the nicest house on the neighborhood

we should not kill our neighbors kid just to be the only one who has smart kids

we should not kill our neighbors wife - just to have the nicest wife

we should not help other to destroy our neighbors just to be the only one who has survived.

 

The way I see if we can not help – or if some of us are not willing to help - at-list we can respect and / we can be nice.

 

Yes we have suffered of Georgians for long time – one tine bit of our Armenia is part of Georgia now – we do have some problems ……… but lets teak one step at the time lets see if our SRTATSAV jester can awaken some Shalikos or Valikos harts.

[sen_Vahan]

True Movses jan!

 

But anyway armenians in some period of their history created and worked a lot in gerogia - many buildings and monuments builth by armenians, the central "Erevanskaya Ploshad'",great influence in literature and music, etc, etc, etc.

But today because of "historical changes" we don't have much left there - not much people and not much of "armenian". It is now georgian and some 100 years later nobody will even recall the armenian contribution - see how great georgia/ians are!! And we should not be surprised having a kind of radicalism in moods/minds like "why should we care about their problems".

 

Vahan

[Rubo]

Our revolutionaries were also got suckered into believing the young Turks and we know what happened and all in the name of humanity and neighborly love.

I don’t have illusions, love your neighbor but carry a big stick! We are old enough and mature enough that we don’t have to sound like kids and talk about openness, cooperation, and tolerance and so on and ignore the fact that Armenians who live in Georgia and have to deal with real hatred towards them have a very different perspective then our fellow Armenians in US.

People or race, which does not learn the lessons of history, is bound to repeat them over again and again. As an Armenian I CARE LESS about political correctness (typical US mentality at present) I will always act in what is our interest first!

Regards from the "radical"

[sen_Vahan]

vava, Mosjan,

 

I agree with you, guys, but as Rubo said our interests first.

 

I wish you all happy holidays!

best of luck and happiness

Zankanum em aroggutyun ev hagugutyun

 

Vahan

[gamavor]

A noble Georgian prince asked Mesrop Mashtotz to write an alphabet for the Georgians.

Mesrop responded promptly to the request and asked the prince for a blackboard and a bowl of spaghetti. Then he took the bowl and throw it against the board saying: "This is your alphabet!"

 

I guess that is why Georgian alphabet has no capital letters and Georgian grammar has no punctuation. I still wonder why they read and write from left to right:)

[joseph]

What i see , Georgia ten years from now will look like the Soviet Union after Ghorbatchev " Fragmanted " .

Correct me if i am wrong .