YEREVAN. - Armenian historical monuments on the territory of Iran are under State protection, said historian, expert in Armenian culture Samvel Karapetyan on Monday.

Armenian working group visited Iran for one month on June 10 in a framework of a joint project with Iranian counterparts. The group visited four of former Armenian provinces - Parspatunik or Karadag, Artaz (Maku), Khoy, Zarevand (current Salmast) and passed Urmia (Kaputan).

“We have been in 4 provinces. The diversity and the amount of monuments is the same as in Armenia, Karabakh or Western Armenia. These territories are inhabited by Azerbaijanis or Kurds, we met Armenians only in Salmast,” said Karapetyan. “Historical Armenian lands are abundant not only with churches but also fortresses, especially belonging to the era of Kingdom of Van.”

The scientist added that several thousands of Armenian monuments have been preserved in Iran. The group managed to photo and videotape around 4000 of them. In future these materials will be used for photo albums, books and movies.