Turkish authorities offered to include medieval Armenian city of Ani in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Ani, located on the bank of Akhuryan River bordering with present day Armenia, was a capital of the Armenian medieval state ruled by Bagratuni royal dynasty.
If Ani is included in the UNESCO list it would be widely covered by press, said representative of Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry Hakan Doganay, Nouvelles d’Armenie reports referring to Turkish Anadolu news agency.
The official said it would contribute to tourism development of the region. According to him, Ani was visited by 23,000 tourists, mainly from France, UK and Japan, in the first half of 2011.
“Urartians, Seljuks and Ottomans lived in Ani,” he said forgetting to mention that Ani is an Armenian city and was a capital of Armenia in the 10th century.
“The representative of the Turkish administration once again dodged the word ‘Armenians’. The missing word makes us angry each time we read the brochures for tourists. How can UNESCO monitor distortion of history and culture in a country where such statements have become traditional?” writes Nouvelles d’Armenie.
