Skeletons of massacred found in Turkey

[Gavur]

Turkish, Armenian historians quarrel over failed study initiative

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=105603

Turkish and Armenian historians remained at odds following the failure last week of a planned joint study into the World War I events in eastern Anatolia, which Armenians claim amounted to genocide.

Yusuf Halaçoğlu - Ara Sarafian
Yusuf Halaçoğlu, who heads the Turkish Historical Society (TTK), rejected accusations from British Armenian historian Ara Sarafian that their plans for a joint case study on the treatment of Armenians in Harput in eastern Anatolia in 1915 would not work because Halaçoğlu said he could not provide some of the documents he requested.

"I never said that we could not open some of the archives or that we cannot show some documents," Halaçoğlu said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. He noted that he did not have the legal authority to impose restrictions on archive documents. Halaçoğlu, speaking last week, blamed the Armenian diaspora for failure of the initiative and said Sarafian bowed to pressure from the diaspora.

"I particularly want to stress that Mr. Sarafian has probably been subject to pressure," Halaçoğlu then said. "As a matter of fact, a news report published by [bilingual Armenian-Turkish newspaper] Agos said that the Armenian diaspora was very angry with Sarafian because of his proposal to study with Turkish historians."

In London, Sarafian refuted claims that he was afraid to carry out research with a Turkish academic and said Halaçoğlu had told him some of the documents he requested were not available in the Ottoman archives.

"This is an incredible statement. I expect Halaçoğlu to clarify what this means," he said in an interview with the Cihan News Agency. "I am not the one who gave up on the research. I am the one who proposed doing research in Turkey and would love to work in this direction."

He said, however, that his proposal was no longer on the table because the documents, as Halaçoğlu said, were not in the Ottoman archives. "If these documents are not available, then we of course cannot do any study," he was quoted as saying by Cihan.

Sarafian also said he wanted to stay in contact with Turkey and that he favored dialogue. "I favor dialogue to show that at least those days when Turks and Armenians were killing each other are over," he said. "I believe there will be a consensus on that but I know that this will not be easy." He also said: "I am not a supporter of the Armenian diaspora who criticizes Turkey without talking to Turkish historians and looking into the archives. I am in favor of trying to work in and with Turkey as much as I can."

[Gavur]

Robert Fisk: The truth should be proclaimed loudly


When has any publisher ever tried to avoid publicity for his book?
Published: 17 March 2007

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2366519.ece

Stand by for a quotation to take your breath away. It's from a letter from my Istanbul publishers, who are chickening out of publishing the Turkish-language edition of my book The Great War for Civilisation. The reason, of course, is a chapter entitled "The First Holocaust", which records the genocide of one and a half million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks in 1915, a crime against humanity that even Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara tried to hide by initially refusing to invite Armenian survivors to his Holocaust Day in London.

It is, I hasten to add, only one chapter in my book about the Middle East, but the fears of my Turkish friends were being expressed even before the Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was so cruelly murdered outside his Istanbul office in January. And when you read the following, from their message to my London publishers HarperCollins, remember it is written by the citizen of a country that seriously wishes to enter the European Community. Since I do not speak Turkish, I am in no position to criticise the occasional lapses in Mr Osman's otherwise excellent English.

"We would like to denote that the political situation in Turkey concerning several issues such as Armenian and Kurdish Problems, Cyprus issue, European Union etc do not improve, conversely getting worser and worser due to the escalating nationalist upheaval that has reached its apex with the Nobel Prize of Orhan Pamuk and the political disagreements with the EU. Most probably, this political atmosphere will be effective until the coming presidency elections of April 2007... Therefore we would like to undertake the publication quietly, which means there will be no press campaign for Mr Fisk's book. Thus, our request from [for] Mr Fisk is to show his support to us if any trial [is] ... held against his book. We hope that Mr Fisk and HarperCollins can understand our reservations."

Well indeedydoody, I can. Here is a publisher in a country negotiating for EU membership for whom Armenian history, the Kurds, Cyprus (unmentioned in my book) - even Turkey's bid to join the EU, for heaven's sake - is reason enough to try to sneak my book out in silence. When in the history of bookselling, I ask myself, has any publisher tried to avoid publicity for his book? Well, I can give you an example. When Taner Akcam's magnificent A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility was first published in Turkish - it uses Ottoman Turkish state documents and contemporary Turkish statements to prove that the genocide was a terrifying historical fact - the Turkish historian experienced an almost identical reaction. His work was published "quietly" in Turkey - and without a single book review.

Now I'm not entirely unsympathetic with my Turkish publishers. It is one thing for me to rage and roar about their pusillanimity. But I live in Beirut, not in Istanbul. And after Hrant Dink's foul murder, I'm in no position to lecture my colleagues in Turkey to stand up to the racism that killed Dink. While I'm sipping my morning coffee on the Beirut Corniche, Mr Osman could be assaulted in the former capital of the Ottoman empire. But there's a problem nonetheless.

Some months earlier, my Turkish publishers said that their lawyers thought that the notorious Law 301 would be brought against them - it is used to punish writers for being "unTurkish" - in which case they wanted to know if I, as a foreigner (who cannot be charged under 301), would apply to the court to stand trial with them. I wrote that I would be honoured to stand in a Turkish court and talk about the genocide. Now, it seems, my Turkish publishers want to bring my book out like illicit pornography - but still have me standing with them in the dock if right-wing lawyers bring charges under 301!

I understand, as they write in their own letter, that they do not want to have to take political sides in the "nonsensical collision between nationalists and neo-liberals", but I fear that the roots of this problem go deeper than this. The sinister photograph of the Turkish police guards standing proudly next to Dink's alleged murderer after his arrest shows just what we are up against here. Yet still our own Western reporters won't come clean about the Ottoman empire's foul actions in 1915. When, for example, Reuters sent a reporter, Gareth Jones, off to the Turkish city of Trabzon - where Dink's supposed killer lived - he quoted the city's governor as saying that Dink's murder was related to "social problems linked to fast urbanisation". A "strong gun culture and the fiery character of the people" might be to blame.

Ho hum. I wonder why Reuters didn't mention a much more direct and terrible link between Trabzon and the Armenians. For in 1915, the Turkish authorities of the city herded thousands of Armenian women and children on to boats, set off into the Black Sea - the details are contained in an original Ottoman document unearthed by Akcam - "and thrown off to drown". Historians may like to know that the man in charge of these murder boats was called Niyazi Effendi. No doubt he had a "fiery character".

Yet still this denial goes on. The Associated Press this week ran a story from Ankara in which its reporter, Selcan Hacaoglu, repeated the same old mantra about there being a "bitter dispute" between Armenia and Turkey over the 1915 slaughter, in which Turkey "vehemently denies that the killings were genocide". When will the Associated Press wake up and cut this cowardly nonsense from its reports? Would the AP insert in all its references to the equally real and horrific murder of six million European Jews that right-wing Holocaust negationists "vehemently deny" that there was a genocide? No, they would not.

But real history will win. Last October, according to local newspaper reports, villagers of Kuru in eastern Turkey were digging a grave for one of their relatives when they came across a cave containing the skulls and bones of around 40 people - almost certainly the remains of 150 Armenians from the town of Oguz who were murdered in Kuru on 14 June 1915. The local Turkish gendarmerie turned up to examine the cave last year, sealed its entrance and ordered villagers not to speak of what they found. But there are hundreds of other Kurus in Turkey and their bones, too, will return to haunt us all. Publishing books "quietly" will not save us.

[1.5 million]

Fisk: "Would the AP insert in all its references to the equally real and horrific murder of six million European Jews that right-wing Holocaust negationists "vehemently deny" that there was a genocide? No, they would not."

No, they would not...thank you once again Mr Fisk. What might seem to you and most of us as obvious somehow seems so very hard for most to understand...

[Joseph]

First Read this and then read David Gaunts email to an Armenian Group below

Truth of mass grave eludes Swedish professor
Friday, April 27, 2007
print this page mail to a friend



ONUR BURÇAK BELLİ
ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News


An investigation to clarify conflicting claims about the origins of a mass grave found near the city of Mardin last year in Turkey's southeast ended in disappointment this week as historians traded accusations and a Swedish expert denounced the excavation as an “expensive picnic.”

The grave first came to light last October when villagers in the district of Nusaybın reported that they had found a mass grave near the village of Kuru. Turkish historians insisted that the grave dated back to Roman times while some Westerners claimed it could be a mass burial site of Armenians, killed around 1915 in a series of massacres that remain the subject of red hot controversy today.

After the weekly news magazine Nokta published photos of the site and international news agencies picked up the story, Sweden's Soderton University demanded an investigation.



Refusing collaboration:

Professor David Gaunt of Soderton, accompanied by Yusuf Halaçoğlu, the President of the Turkish Association of Historians (TTK), arrived at the burial site together last Tuesday, April 24. The date is a symbolic day for Armenians who commemorate “genocide” on that day, a characterization disputed by most Turkish and many international scholars.

On examining the grave, Gaunt refused to collaborate with the Turkish historians. It had been tampered with since it was first uncovered, making it impossible to conclusively establish its origins or the circumstances of the human remains.

“I have some photos of the grave, dating back to October, when it was first found,” Gaunt told the Turkish Daily News yesterday. “But the place I saw was totally different from the photos."If proving that the grave is not evidence of Armenian claims, it should have had serious protection, he said. However, it is “full of mud.”“My impression is that this grave is one in which no scientific research can be carried out. The grave has undergone numerous changes so it is unrecognizable," he said.

Soil sample conflict:

The Turkish Association's Halaçoğlu, however, said in response that no bones were removed from the place and that the change was due to natural factors such as rain. Gaunt in turn rejected that explanation, saying if indeed scientific standards of protection were used “then it could not have been affected by rain or anything else."The aim of this visit was to make a preliminary survey to establish whether the site is suitable for interdisciplinary investigations in the future by forensic medical experts, archaeologists, physical anthropologists and historians. If such a decision was taken, forensic experts would be engaged to assist the Turkish Historical Society and the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in their work.Noting that Roman pantheons have their own entrance, which was closed in the grave, Halaçoğlu emphasized that the grave represents a typical Roman burial site.

It could not be a site, in his view, of alleged Armenian victims at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. He also chastised Gaunt for flippancy, saying if he is sincere about investigating genocide claims, he should have taken soil samples that could prove the history of the bones. He also recalled that Turkey has made an official proposal to Armenia to set up a joint commission of historians to study such disputed events and all sides should conduct their work impartially.Such impartiality is now impossible, an angry Gaunt argued: “They gave me a shovel to dig and get some soil and some little bones, which were impossible to work on and reach any scientific conclusion. It is an archeological site. The process should continue slowly and gently,” he said “That was when I realized it was impossible to reach any scientific conclusion. Why should I get soil samples? What happened to those bones that are the real source for forensic research?"It could well be a Roman grave, he said, but the point was to examine the remains of 38 bodies there and that is now difficult if not impossible."Our intention was to understand how they got there, but I have heard that they were removed. I cannot accept the claim that mud filled the grave naturally," Gaunt explained.

Understanding the exact date:

David Gaunt also said it is scientifically impossible to understand the exact date from the bones. "It is not possible to say the exact date with scientific and chemical examinations. One can only merge the scientific outcomes with the stories of the local people. Then maybe one may have an answer close to reality.”

Sait Yıldız, a Syriac local of Mardin, said Halaçoğlu accused him of manipulating reality and misinforming the media. Yıldız was at the site with Gaunt and Halaçoğlu the first time they went into the grave. "I was carrying the photographs taken at that time," Yıldız said. "A villager came to me, looked at the photos and confirmed that the grave looked like this the first time he discovered it," he added, explaining that villager was the one who first found the grave and reported it to the authorities.

The Swedish professor expressed his disillusionment, describing what happened as “childish.”

“This is the most expensive picnic I have ever attended," concluded the professor.

Emre Çalışkan contributed to this story.

[Joseph]

Here is David Gaunt's account written from Turkey

Dear All



As you know by now I was at the mass-grave sıte on Aprıl 23 wıth Yusuf Halacoglu the presıdent of the TUrkısh Hıstorıcal Socıety. For me thıs was a pılot case for the degree to whıch ıt was possıble to do an ınternatıonal co-operatıon on a strıctly scıentıfıc no-nonsense basıs.


We were to make a prelımınary survey of the grave ın Kuru vıllage, Nusaybın dıstrıct, Mardın provınce, ın order to see ıf a later scıentıfıc ınvestıgatıon could be made by archaeologısts, forensıc medıcal experts, physıcal anthropologısts, hıstorıans and others. My role was sımply to determıne ıf thıs was a suıtable sıte for a full-scale ınterdıscıplınary research. The fırst task was to determıne ıf the fındıngs were ıntact accordıng to the photographs publıshed ın October and November 2006 - whıch I had wıth me. I had asked also for the archaeologıcal report from the Mardın museum that was dated December 1, 2006 but was not gıven because ıt would cause "complıcatıons". I dıd get thıs report on the day after the vısıt to the grave.



Based on newspaper artıcles I expected to see the remaıns of 38 persons lyıng more or less on a pıle on top of the floor of a cave wıth masses of skulls, fragments of skulls, leg bones and so on. The skulls were not blackened. Analysıs of the photos had been done by forensıc medıcal experts and they saıd ıt ındıcated that someone had been arrangıng the skulls for the photos, so we already expected a certaın degree of contamınatıon to the sıte.



But I was thouroughly unprepared to dıscover that there were no skulls, skull fragments or large leg bones lyıng vısıble. To one sıde there were some very blackened rıb-bones and few large pıeces of Roman perıod pottery. When I protested, showed the photos, the Turkısh sıde argued that ıt had been raınıng hard durıng the wınter and maybe all of the bones had been covered ın mud and that we could begın dıggıng to fınd them. Thıs ın ıtself was an admıssıon that the sıte was heavıly contamınated sınce ıt meant that the openıng had been left uncovered and unprotected. But why should the roman pottery be lyıng neatly and cleanly exposed whıle all of the major bones had sunk ınto the mud. (I had prevıously heard from many sources lıvıng ın many countrıes that the bones had been removed at an early stage - obvıously before the Mardın museum report of December 1. But I had belıeved that they would have been transported back for the sake of our scıentıfıc ınvestıgatıon.) I refused outrıght to do anythıng more ın the grave sıte and left whıle professor Halacoglu made a statement ın the pourıng raın for the medıum sıze press group that was assembled there.



Thıs was a very dısappoıntıng result of an attempt to do some serıous scıentıfıc work. The Physıcıans for Human Rıghts had agreed to do the forensıc medıcal ınvestıgatıon and the Instıtute for Hıstorıcal Justıce and Reconcıllıatıon was to assıst ın the hıstorıcal documentatıon. My task was to gıve a green lıght for a later full scale ınvestıgatıon wıth all necessary permıts. I had to report back that thıs sıte was too contamınated, but there mıght of course be some evıdence remaınıg for a paınstakıng undertakıng.



I have not broken off dıalogue wıth the Turkısh HIstorıcal Socıety because of the grave fıasco as there are other serıously scıentıfıc thıngs that we found worthwhıle dıscussıng. Only tıme wıll tell ıf thıs ınıtıatıve ıs more fruıtful.



Sıncerely yours

Davıd Gaunt

[Joseph]

His email typifies quite boldly why the Turkish invitation to discuss what happened and open archives is all a public relations ploy and utterly worhtless. They are completely devoid of honesty and integrity. Talking to them is as pointless as running in circles.

[Joseph]

British archaeologist Sam Hardy visited the Mardin
mass grave in May of 2007, according to his Human
Rights Archaeology blog
(human-rights-archaeology.blogspot.com).

Along with confirming David Gaunt's statement that the
mass grave was cleaned up, Hardy has posted four
photographs from last month now available at
http://human-rights-archaeology.blog...ass-grave.html.
(I would like to see photographs by Prof. Gaunt as
well.)

Interestingly, Hardy mentions of a ruined (most
likely) church he found not too far from the mass
grave.

The archaeologist makes the following statement after
typing his notes from the mass grave visit:

"The logic of the 'impartial joint excavation' of the
mass grave falan falan falan is similar to that of the
'impartial joint commission' on the history of the
Armenian Genocide.

It is different though; beyond the futility of a joint
commission with deniers who aren't scientists anyway,
the erasure of the evidence puts scientists in the
position of helping their opponents 'prove' their case
by their inability to prove their own."

http://human-rights-archaeology.blogspot.com/2007/06/turkey-fieldwork-notes-mass-grave.html

Turkey fieldwork notes: mass grave destroyed
Kurdistan/Turkey fieldwork notes extracts

This post followed a visit to the formerly Roman family tomb, latterly Armenian mass grave, recently destroyed and covered up by the Turkish military with the help of the Turkish Historical Society.

At 10.10pm on the 17th of May 2007, I recorded that,
I visited my first mass grave today, my first nationalist-archaeologist-allied-with-the-military-destroyed mass grave, too; now that's negative heritage tourism.

It was the allegedly - to me, fairly definitely - Armenian (or other Other) mass grave in Kuru/Xirabebaba, for the reporting of which Ülkede Özgür Gündem was shut down and on the excavation of which David Gaunt refused to work.

I checked out of the dirty room (that had dirty sheets until I twice asked for clean ones, then got given one to put on myself) with the broken window and the broken mirror glass on the floor at the Ba?ak Otel, tried to book in at the Ö?retmen Evi, then ended up at the nice, pricey Bilen Otel, where my room's light was broken (now fixed). (Someone I met along the way is trying to do me the "favour" of finding me a place at the Polis Evi...)

I took a dolmu? as far as Nusayb?n, where the difficulty of making people believe I was pronouncing the name properly and really did want to go to Kuru, not Dara, dispelled any notion of hitch-hiking. I tried to get a dolmu? to Akarsu to get a taxi from there, but the Akarsu dolmu? driver told me to get the dolmu? that actually went to Kuru.

I eventually found the driver for the dolmu? and his friend told me the fare was a very reasonable 5YTL each way; then they spoke in Kurdish and asked me if I wanted to go tomorrow. When I said 'no' to that and the idea of staying the night there and coming back the next day, the price jumped to $15 each way, then to 70YTL all in when I asked for the price in local currency.

I told them I knew that was more than three times the daily wage, but they just shrugged. I told them I was going to have some breakfast and think about it, whereupon they came with me and sat with me, staring at me; they really didn't want to lose this fare.

I nearly went with someone else and, when asked why, said because I trusted them; when he asked if I trusted him and I just stared back, he just grinned back at me. I got them down to 60YTL, then gave up and went with them....

First, I went to one of the many (unre-used) ancient, rock-cut burial chamber tombs. Then, I went to the certainly re-used, certainly somehow disturbed, Roman rock-cut burial chamber tomb.

There was new soil inside the entrance that had fallen in since its reopening, however, the floor inside was different, quite soft soil, only compacted by xxxxxling.

There was one pocket of saturated and subsequently hardened soil - a solid mud puddle - but that was in the far left corner (as approached from the current entrance), the other side of the few remaining bones.

All of the Roman resting places seemed empty and all of the diagnostic bones from the top of the stack in the centre had gone; only a few long bones and one jaw fragment appeared to have remained.

If it were natural factors that had reburied or degraded "all" of the remains after the reopening of the tomb, it [they] would have to have been exceptional conditions, to have covered the material on top without covering the material beneath that, or to have been such caustic rain, etc., to have decomposed the material on top entirely without leaving any identifiable wear or residue on the material beneath.

In the very poor light available, the few remaining bones looked very greyish-black; some villagers attributed this to the Turkish army's use of chemicals on the site, although that's wholly unconfirmed.

After this site visit, I made my way to a long-ruined, possibly earthquake-"broken" ancient site, which villagers called a church; finally, I passed some of the few homes destroyed by the Turkish army in - if I remember correctly, 1995 - and left.

When I had discussed the burial site with locals, they had been divided on whether they thought it was a mass grave or not. A few of the men who thought it was a mass grave said that it was destroyed to hide the evidence and commented that, 'that's what they're doing to us'.

They agreed that the Turkish military was working on the assumption that, 'if there isn't a body, there isn't a crime'. (There are, however, hopes that the, 'no body, no crime' principle could be outmanoeuvred by developments in forensic archaeology, either through DNA testing of remianing bone fragments or even by identifying traces in the soil, although these would still be dependent upon the potential victims' descendant community being able to be identified and being willing to cooperate in the process.)

The logic of the "impartial joint excavation" of the mass grave falan falan falan is similar to that of the "impartial joint commission" on the history of the Armenian Genocide.

It is different though; beyond the futility of a joint commission with deniers who aren't scientists anyway, the erasure of the evidence puts scientists in the position of helping their opponents "prove" their case by their inability to prove their own.

On the 16th of May, I went through the usual routine - and the usual routine of getting out of one place and into another - so that by the time I'd got to Mardin, the day had already gone.

I met a friend for dinner and sketched out a(nother) plan for action. It was entirely contingent upon how today went, so it's not a problem that I didn't get round to making a proper note of it; it's little more than a list of places now.

The four places that I've definitely crossed off the list are (west-to-east):
Manisa, an ancient town almost entirely 'destroyed by the Greek army during its 1922 retreat' (Ayliffe et al, 2003: 313);
?irince, an old Greek village inhabited by Muslim refugees from Thessaloniki (Ayliffe et al, 2003: 365);
Side, a city once grown fat on slavery, later burned down and cleared out, allegedly by the Arab invasion, much later resettled by Cretan Muslim refugees, whom the government and the archaeological community failed to evict (Ayliffe et al, 2003: 556); and
Vak?fl?köy, the one remaining (openly) Armenian village in Turkey (Ayliffe et al, 2003: 597-598).
It would be nice to go to Kayseri, as it is home to what is still Turkey's largest consecrated church, which is an Armenian church about 1,300 years old. It was home to a Greek and Armenian historic quarter around that church, but several years ago that was being bulldozed and redeveloped (Ayliffe et al, 2003: 677).

So, it would be interesting to see - and show - just how invisible historic places become when they're built over, as a demonstration of how Cypriot villages, towns and cities may have had districts, neighbourhoods or even individual homes that were destroyed, the mere presence of which is inconceivable now (like the main mosque in Paphos, which is now under a main road).

I can't take much longer - at the very least, not now - but I could stay two or three more weeks and still get back to Cyprus in time for the CAARI conference. (I still have to move out of my flat in Istanbul, talk to the Turkish Historical Society and, at some point within that time, I'm going to go to Ankara and see the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations (Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi).)

The sites I hope I will visit in my remaining time, listed in anti-clockwise order (as that's probably the order I'll visit them in), are:
the Keban Dam and Elaz?? Museum, [because] the inefficiency of the Keban Dam is, perversely, one of the reasons for the new dams; finds from the sites submerged beneath it are displayed in Elaz?? Museum;
Hasankeyf and the site of the Il?su Dam, [because] Hasankeyf is the most famous, active and resilient of the communities and sites to be flooded by the Il?su Dam; the dam project was so harmful that it inspired the archaeological boycott;
some of the warred villages between Siirt and ??rnak, [because] thousands of villages have been evacuated and/or destroyed by the Turkish military; I visited some in Lice district, Diyarbak?r province and there appears to be a cluster of sites in this area;
Hakkari, [because] Hakkari is a town swelling with those made refugees in their own country, internally displaced persons; it is surrounded by hamlets erased from history by the Turkish military (Ayliffe et al, 2003: 945-946);
Van, [because] the population of Van is also increasing because of the conflict's displacement of villagers[...] Van's museum has a section on the Armenian Genocide, or not, as it's the state's narrative and seems a singularly appropriate place to see it, as during the First World War it was first ethnically cleansed of its Armenians by Turkish and Kurdish militaries and extremists and then of its Kurds and Turks by Russian and Armenian militaries[...] The old town of Van, which I expect to spend hours in, was utterly destroyed;
Akhtamar, [because] Akhtamar Church is a historic Armenian church, built almost 1,000 years ago, which has recently been reopened as a museum;
Çavu?tepe/Cevizdibi and Karabulak, [because] Çavu?tepe/Cevizdibi and Karabulak may be warred villages...;
Eski Beyaz?t near Do?u Beyaz?t, [because] Eski Beyaz?t was evacuated and destroyed in 1930 after its Kurdish population rebelled (Ayliffe et al, 2003: 951-952);
Ani, [because] Ani was attacked by Mongols in the Thirteenth Century (though what impact this had and whether it contributed to its decline I don't know), but it was eventually abandoned after an earthquake in 1319 and a declining economy made it undesirable[...] Its Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator has had its images' faces damaged or destroyed (Ayliffe et al, 2003: 832) in a similar fashion to Palea Enklistra in Cyprus[...] There is also 'a striking example of ultranationalist archaeology in action' in 'the only indisputably Islamic item at Ani', the Selçuk Palace, being 'the only structure to receive any degree of archaeological investigation and maintenance' (Ayliffe et al, 2003: 833);
Khtskonk, [because] Khtskonk/Be? Kilise had five churches, but four were destroyed by boulders or bombs at some point between 1920 and 1965;
and the Çoruh River/Deriner Reservoir/Yusufeli Dam.
Bu kadar. [I collapsed together the list and the descriptions from the notes, then separated some of the sites written as a group in the list.]

I also want to go to the Türkiye E?itim Hizmet Çali?ma Vakf? (Education Service Work Foundation of Turkey) or Kilim Projesi (Carpet Project) in Van, which sells carpets produced by village women paid a fair wage.
Ayliffe, R, Dubin, M, Gawthrop, J. 2003: The Rough Guide to Turkey. London: Rough Guides.

# posted by samarkeolog @ 3:44 AM

[Joseph]

http://kuru-community-cultural-heritage.blogspot.com/

[bell-the-cat]

British archaeologist Sam Hardy blah blah blah

That idiot is English, not British.

Honestly, Joseph, what he has written is so full of bullxxxx and lack of understanding that it is embarassing.

These xxxxs think they can turn up at a place, or a country, without knowing anything, and make their opinionated pronouncements as if they are the Word of God.

[bell-the-cat]

I can't believe he quotes "The Rough Guide to Turkey" as an academic source! One of the worst guidebooks available - and he hasn't even got the latest version!! (Probably - since he is someone who thinks arguing about the price of a minibus is more important that getting to a site - he got it because it was cheaply priced in a bookstore full of remaindered books).

But it just re-inforces my opinion about him. Anyone who needs to use a guidebook is not knowledgeable enough about the subject to make a comments about that subject.