The state of Vaspurakan of Mets Hayk (Great Hayk), which is currently part of Turkey, partially Iran and Nakhichevan and used to cover a surface of 40,000 square kilometers, has been studied to a certain extent by archaeologists and the main archaeological items are kept in the museums of Van, as well as Khlat and Ankara. Van, which was the first capital of historical Armenia, served as a link between different regions of the Armenian Highlands.
Today Armenian and foreign experts presented the Kingdom of Van from different angles in their speeches at the international conference dedicated to the 2,865th anniversary of the first remembrance of Van city. The international conference was organized by "Vaspurakan" Compatriotic Union with the participation of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography at the RA National Academy of Sciences.
According to senior scientific worker of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography at the RA NAS, candidate of historical sciences Arsen Babokhyan, the enormous amount of archaeological data discovered in Western Armenia will change our notions of the Urartu state within the next 10 years. According to him, the new data will present the establishment of Armenian statehood which the Turkish side knowingly interprets in its own way.
Head of the YSU Department of Archaeology and Ethnography Hayk Avetisyan stated that Turkish historians address the Kingdom of Van by presenting it as an ancient Eastern kingdom.
"They simply mention that there was a Christian period. But they don't state anything related to Armenians besides the Holy Cross Church of Akhtamar and some cultural monuments," says Avetisyan.
During his recent visit to Van, Armenian studies expert, Head of the Department of Armenian Studies after Narekatsi at the University of California Peter Kaun became convinced that Van could have been turned into a touristic city, but the Turkish authorities didn't spare too many efforts for that.
"There was not much information on the panels and Van city was in a rather poor situation. Of course, you can see wonderful and impressive historical heritage there," the Armenian studies expert told "A1+".
According to him, recently the Turkish government has been making some progress, but only with respect to Akhtamar.
"It is clearly written that the Holy Cross Church of Akhtamar was built by Armenian King Gagik I of Vaspurakan on the panel at the church and there are quite a lot of details on the architectural structure of the monument," said the Armenian studies expert.
The conference will end on October 9.
Source: A1 Plus [October 07, 2010]