News about Artsakh

[Icy]

Re: News about Artsakh

Wow, finally some great news, I just wish this baby boom thing happend
every year for the past 15 years, then we wouldn't have to worry

[jgk3]

Re: News about Artsakh

Shushi, NKR – Signs of Recovery Finally on the Horizon
[ 2009/08/21 | 14:07 ] Nagorno Karabakh society
Anahit Danielyan

Construction is bustling in Shushi today. Everywhere you look repair work is underway and new buildings are going up. This activity is the result of the NKR government’s decision to transfer several state ministries and departments here.

Most of the work is now being financed by the government but the upcoming marathon of the All Armenia Fund in November will be devoted to rebirth of Shushi. In all likelihood the Fund will launch work projects here come 2010.

Grigor Avanesyan, who heads the Shushi Regional District’s Division of Construction and Architecture, stated that the government had earmarked 70 million AMD for various work projects in Shushi.

Repairs to the city’s water system are underway and the government has earmarked 10 million AMD for the necessary repairs to be made.

Improvements to the Tadevos and Azatamartikner Streets in Shushi have begun and the 12 kilometer stretch of road to Kirsavan is in full swing. Local rural streets will also be repaired.

Mr. Avanesyan stated that essential repairs to the Shushi administrative center have begun and construction of the NKR Supreme Court, in the vicinity of Aram Manukyan Street, is underway.

He added that later on repair work will begin on the building housing the former People’s University, which has been chosen as the new home of the Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs.

Construction work also continues apace on the new building that will house the Shushi Picture Gallery. The gallery is set to open in 2011.

http://hetq.am/en/society/shushi-9/

Fed, do you know of any volunteer programs for diasporan youth to help in construction and infrastructure development in Artsakh? This is something I am interested in.

[Federate]

Re: News about Artsakh

Fed, do you know of any volunteer programs for diasporan youth to help in construction and infrastructure development in Artsakh? This is something I am interested in.

Not Artsakh specifically, but for Armenia I do. It's called CYMA.

[Federate]

Re: News about Artsakh

Construction in Shoushi Grows


YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—Construction in Shoushi has begun for a number of state agencies of the unrecognized Armenian republic to move there. The area’s administration says construction could be completed by 2011.

Rehabilitation of the town has been a declared priority by authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh. Reconstruction activities in Shoushi have been largely supported by Armenian charities.

According to head of the Shoushi administrative area Gevorg Hayrian, another major project aims at providing the town with 24-hour water supply.

Hayrian told RFE/RL that the project has already been submitted to the Armenian Fund for funding. The Fund had declared it would channel all funds raised in last year’s nationwide telethon at projects in Shoushi.

Hayrian also said an allocation equivalent to nearly $185,000 had been made by the Karabakh authorities from their state budget for projects to be implemented in the Shoushi area.

The area’s head said that several streets as well as a sports school are being currently repaired in the town and a picture gallery is under construction.

“Shoushi is in a very bad condition. It needs revitalizing,” said Hayrian.

http://www.asbarez.com/2009/08/24/construction-in-shoushi-grows/

[Icy]

Re: News about Artsakh

This is great news, I wish they did this sooner
around 10 years ago, but it was merely impossible
to do so back then, lets just hope this construction
boom goes around all of Karabakh and all of Armenia.

[Federate]

Re: News about Artsakh

New mall in Stepanakert


“For Direction” company reconstructs a former trade centre in Stepanakert (Nagorno-Karabakh capital) into a mall. It will open soon and comprise hotel suites, open-air cafes, Asian as well as European cuisine spots and a cinema for children.

NKR President Bako Sahakyan visited the mall the other day to see the progress of the work.

http://news.am/en/news/3180.html

[Icy]

Re: News about Artsakh

Stepanakert Airport to Begin Operating in 2010



STEPANAKERT—The Stepanakert Airport will begin operating in October of 2010, the construction company contracted to rebuild the airport said on Monday, Armepress reported.

Horizon-95, the firm contracted with reconstructing the airport has finished the initial phase of reconstruction on the airport and its passenger complex, according to Gagik Galstian, who heads the company.

The company is also currently building a laboratory of agricultural food in Stepanakert and a courthouse in Shushi.

Source: http://www.asbarez.com/2009/05/26/st...ating-in-2010/

[Haykakan]

News from Artsakh

Newly Constructed Buildings

NKR Government Information and
Public Relations Department


September 08, 2009


Recently, a memorial complex perpetuating the memory of the perished
soldiers has been opened in the village of Talish (Martakert region),
the construction of which was supported by the benefactor Boris
Saghatelyan. At the solemn ceremony of opening which was participated
by the NKR President Bako Sahakyan, legislative and executive
authorities, other officials, benefactors, inhabitants of Talish, some
state awards were delivered to a number of azatamartiks and soldiers.
NKR officials partook as well in the solemn opening ceremony of the
newly built nursery school in the regional administrative centre of
Martakert. An importance was attached to the existence of modern
preschool establishments and their role in social and educational
spheres.
After the three-year construction works the secondary school of
Askeran after Edmon Barseghyan was commissioned as well. The new school
building has all the facilities typical to modern educational
institutions. The NKR Ministry of Education and Science supplied the
school with laboratories of Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Geography,
History and with corresponding property aimed at adequately conducting
the 300 pupils' classes.

[ninetoyadome]

Re: News from Artsakh

New village in Nagorno-Karabakh
11:34 / 09/23/2009


A foundation for new village in Nor Kilikia (New Kilikia) was laid in Martakert region, Nagorno-Karabakh. Catholicosate of the Great House of Kilikia is initiator and sponsor of the project.

The first suburb will be built on nine hectares. If weather remains favourable, ten cottages will be constructed till end of the year for families of Karabakh war victims.

http://news.am/en/news/4959.html

[Federate]

Re: News about Artsakh

A city built by King Tigran the Great is unearthed
A 5th–6th–century basilica and the oldest known Armenian writing in the territory of Artsakh are discovered


Tigranakert, Nagorno-Karabakh - When it was announced in 2005 that one of the Tigranakerts built by King Tigran the Great (r. 95-55 B.C.E.) was discovered in Tigranakert, Artsakh, the reaction from Armenia was one of mockery, while the Azerbaijani side condemned the initiative of Armenian archaeologists as political propaganda.

Independent of the evaluations being made, the city of Tigranakert, built during the Hellenistic period of 70 B.C.E. is being excavated and unearthed and that is a fact. History professor Hamlet Petrossian, who is heading up the team of scientists at the excavation site in Tigranakert, studied the manuscripts of Armenian historians before beginning the excavation. Armenian historian Sebos, and later Movses Kaghankadvatsi left writings in the 7th century, which state that through the decree of King Tigran, the city of Tigranakert was built in Arstakh.

A member of the excavation team in Tigranakert, Vartkes Safaryan, a professor at the university in Artsakh says that studies were conducted over a 10 km territory because the written sources were not precise about the exact location of Tigranakert in Artsakh.

"We can say that we have discovered one of the Tigranakert cities built during the days of King Tigran the Great. All Hellenistic kings built cities and named them after themselves. We have historical facts that in the eastern regions of Armenia, there have been two Tigranakerts, one in Utik and the other in Artsakh," said Safaryan.

It is believed that Tigranakert and the important Armenian settlement around its territory survived until the 15th century. Until the half of the 18th century, no written information was saved about the Tigranakert in Artsakh. Around that time, a fort was built near the springs of Shahbulagh (translation from Turkish means springs of the king) by the fierce enemy of the Meliks, Panah Khan. Armenians called the territory around the springs of Shahbulagh as Tngrnakert (a distorted version of Tigranakert), which makes the assumption that it was here that Tigranakert was located. A researcher in the ruins of Artsakh, Makar Barghudarians, writes, that the lower valley of Khachenaket was called the province of Tigranakert.

It was possible not to trust the information found in historical sources if Tigranakert itself had not been brought out from under the earth.

"This is the fifth season that we have been carrying out our work. The two base walls of the Hellenistic city, the fortress walls have already been exposed. They are for the most part stable; the tower has also been excavated. The city was composed of several sections - this was the citadel. This city was founded around 70 B.C.E. and continued to exist until the 15th century. It is for this reason that we not only have Hellenistic monuments, but also Christian ones," said Safaryan.

A few hundred meters above Tigranakert, at the summit of the mountain, a 6th-7th-xcentury church, Vankasar, is still standing. During Soviet rule, this church, along with other Armenian churches in the Kur-Araks region, were said to be Albanian; the walls of the churches were desecrated and all Armenian writings were removed. On the eastern section of Vankasar, an early Christian Church carved into the mountain is preserved. Seven kilometers north of Vankasar another Armenian Church from the early middle ages has also been preserved in the territory of Gyavurghala (which means the Unbeliever's Fort)
The white city

The excavation is unearthing the remains of a powerful city and details of a rich cultural life that once thrived here. The physical structures and the artifacts being excavated attest to the fact that Tigranakert's city plan was progressive, utilized construction technology that allowed for a wide-open settlement. The city was built using a porous, white local stone and stone waterways were constructed in the rocky terrain. Tigranakert had been a white city.

The excavations are also revealing a rich and beautiful city. The most exciting discovery was the revelation of a round tower, 9 meters in diameter, whose walls are made of polished stone and constructed in the dove's tail (tsitsernagapoch) style. Five stories of the tower have been preserved. The height of the tower soars to 60 meters.

The excavations in Tigranaxgerd, which began in 2007, is being financed by the government of Nagorno-Karabakh. This year, the government of NKR, created within its tourism agency the Tigranakert Reserve state organization through which it hopes to secure future financing. A sum of 30 million AMD has been earmarked for this year's excavations and work took place from June 16 to August 25.

Historian and archaeologist Lernik Hovhanessian is the director of the Tigranakert Reserve. He said that the fundamental issue is the study of the ruins, the protection of the site and the carrying out of further excavation and scientific study.

"The reserve will be built on a territory of 4,000 hectares. The fort will be renovated, where a museum will also be built. Tigranakert has political significance as well because of the discovery of the 5th-6th-century basilica. It is quite large and similar to other Armenian churches built in the Armenian plateau in the early Christian era. It was here in 2008 where we discovered the oldest written document in Artsakh. All of this shows that this region was one of the early Christian cultural centers and this is very important. Because this shows that the inhabitants in this region were Armenians, that the owners of the homeland are the Armenian people and centuries later, the Armenian people have rediscovered a part of their homeland," Hovhanessian said.

Tatiana Vartanian is overseeing the excavation of the basilica. She said that this is the third year that they have been working on bringing the basilica up from the soil.

"The excavation team led by Hamlet Petrossian presumes that in this area, under the soil, there must be some monument or some sort of building, because this area is slightly higher than the surrounding fields. When we started the excavation, the church appeared before us," she said.

The church that appeared before them was 21 meters in length. During the 2008 excavations, they found a small ceramic disc (diameter of 7.5-7.8 cm, width of 0.5-1.0 cm). On one side of the disc was a cross and on the other side was the image of a man with a beard and leather hat. The Armenian inscription on the disc reads, "I, Vatche, am the servant of God."

If in the previous years, many were skeptical about the excavation in Tigranakert, mockingly stating that the Armenians were trying to consider Aghdam and its surrounding regions as part of their homeland, today the facts speak for themselves. Today tourists and history buffs are visiting Tigranakert in growing numbers.

Hamlet Petrossian, the leader of the excavation team has organized lectures and exhibitions for Diasporan communities and all those interested in archaeology in Los Angeles, Geneva, Cairo, and Alexandria about the secrets of Tigranakert.

http://www.reporter.am/index.cfm?furl=/go/article/2009-09-26-a-city-built-by-king-tigran-the-great-is-unearthed&pagewanted=all