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Today was spent in a region of Turkey that shares a long, painful history with Armenia. The site of ancient wars of conquest, ethnic tensions, WW1 battles, and dramatic changes in religious perspective, this area has only recently been opened to visitors and is now considered safe for tourists like us. Most painful perhaps are memories of what is today being called the "Armenian genocide," which occurred in this area of the country. Likewise, there is evidence of displacement of villagers during the recent Kurdish resistance, manifested in new housing with tin roofs – an unusual architectural feature – in outlying areas, far from established villages and towns.
Subatan Village memorial
Our first stop after leaving Kars was at a monument to the village of Subatan, where Armenians destroyed the town and killed thousands of their fellow Turkish residents in 1918. Constructed as a propaganda tool by the Turks, the monument nonetheless pays silent witness to clashes between peoples and cultures that exist to this day, although there are signs that relations are warming.
Ani
This huge site was once the capital city of Armenia and home to more than 100,000 Armenians. The latter are said to be the first Christian nation in history. Now the site is located within the borders of Turkey and has been only recently opened to visitors. Prior to a few years ago, the entire area was off limits and monitored by both the Turkish and Armenian military, protecting the border between the two countries. Today it is full of ghosts of Armenians and Seljuks past, with gorgeous public buildings popping out of the poppy covered windswept fields and ravines.
We spent an entire morning in Ani, beginning about 9:30 a.m., before the bright sunshine became too hot for us. It was a gorgeous day, with a brilliant blue sky complementing the spring wildflowers. It looks as though we picked the perfect time to be here. Generally it is so dry in this area that the prevailing color is brown; but today the green grass, bright red poppies, yellow wildflowers and deep blue sky set off the deep brown buildings over the entire panorama. Beautiful!
Most of the more visible remaining buildings are Armenian churches dating from more than a thousand years ago. Interspersed are Seljuk mosques, baths, and commercial buildings. The most significant of the buildings we visited were the entry gates, the Church of St. Gregory, the Holy Virgin Cathedral and, after the Seljuk king, Arslan, captured the town, the very first Turkish mosque in all of Anatolia. All of these buildings have undergone, or are in the process of undergoing, renovations. Rather than repeat all the details of the buildings, I’ve put more information in the captions of my photographs, which can be found at the site mentioned above.
Many of our Turkey tours have emphasized historical buildings. What is so incredible about this site are not only the significant buildings, but the distance between thems, the stark beauty and immensity of the site, and the spectacular ravine separating the two contemporary countries. Additionally, this was a major stop on the famous Silk Road, with evidence still visible of the actual road traversed for thousands of years by merchants carrying their goods between East and West. This will be yet another of my more potent memories of Turkey.
Kars
Returning to Kars, we climbed a long, but not very difficult walkway toward another of the ubiquitous fortresses in nearly every major town. On the way up, we finally saw evidence of some of the places mentioned in Orhan Pamuk’s novel, Kar (Snow), which takes place in winter in this town. Previously we kept trying to picture the locations of the various political and religious intrigues that take place in the novel. Instead, all we saw was another nondescript town with multi-story cement structures, although interspersed with some impressive stone Russian and Armenian mansions, the latter mentioned in the novel. But nowhere could we envision the town as it was described in Pamuk’s book.
Finally, while climbing to the fortress, we looked down on an old bridge and nearby hamam that figured prominently in that story of a visiting poet. Finally!
Reaching the fortress, the more memorable artifact, something we hadn’t seen before, was a cannon inscribed with the tughra, or stylized signature of Sultan Murat III. His signature denotes the fact that the sultan was actually here on a visit from far away Istanbul.
Armenian Church of the Apostles
On the way back down the fortress hill, we stopped at yet another Armenian Church, called the Church of the Apostles, decorated with crude exterior reliefs of the twelve apostles. The history of this edifice is striking: First, an Armenian church, at a time when this city was part of Armenia. In 1579 it was converted to a mosque, after the Seljuks conquered this area. Next, the Russians, in 1918, converted it to a Russian Orthodox church. One year later, during the Turkish war of independence, it became a mosque again. Then briefly it was an Armenian church again (I’m not sure why), and finally in 1920, back to being a mosque.
The history of this area is beyond comprehension after such a brief tour!
Mount Ararat
Everyone knows that Mount Ararat is where Noah’s Ark was supposed to have landed many millennia ago. This huge mountain, which looms over the rest of the countryside, was once considered the tallest in the world. It certainly gives one the impression of being more massive than even some in higher ranges, the reason being that it is not in a mountain range itself. Its 17,000 feet of snow covered volcanic rock looms out alone over the much lower landscape, giving it the impression of being even taller than it is. One can see why this volcanic mountain figures so prominently in both history and myth. We did not see the Ark, nor has anyone else except those who want to believe that they did.
Dogubeyazit
Our resting place for the evening was Dogubeyazit (David, from Australia, pronounced it Dog Biscuit). This town is a center for the sale of goods smuggled from neighboring Iran. In our free time before checking into the hotel, we wandered among the countless shops selling cheap household goods, including some of the most garish gewgaws we’ve seen so far. Despite being advised about the excellent tea available in these shops, we discover that it is mostly Earl Grey tea! We bought nothing, but stopped to examine a statue of "justice," flanked by plaques of the 1948 U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, something we were not expecting here among a strong military presence and a history of violence between local Kurds and the authorities.
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