Armenian musician says Turks should visit Matenadaran to make sure Sayat Nova was really Armenian

Turks have been always attempting to prove Sayat Nova was their singer, renowned Armenian artist, folk musician Tovmas Poghosyan told a news conference Thursday.

"Our neighbors have always wished to appropriate Sayat Nova," he said.

"Why don't they go to Matenadaran to familiarize themselves with Nrekatsi's Book of Lamentations where both religious and artistic names of the great poet are mentioned – Ter-Stepanos and Sayat Nova?"

He further spoke of Georgians and Azerbaijanis' attempts to make Sayat Nova theirs. He said their jealously had a long story, and dated its origins back to 1852 when Armenian great educator and philanthropist Gevorg Hakhverdyan published the first ever collection of Sayat Nova's poems.

The also spoke of an interview he had given to the Turkish state-run TV channel TRT. He said the journalists of the channel had visited Baku and Tbilisi to talk to experts.

"Musicians in Tbilisi insisted on Sayat Nova's being a Georgian, Azeris claimed he was a Turk. As for us, we didn't insist on anything. We referred to specific facts," he said, adding that Azerbaijan had even hosted symposiums dedicated to the great poet and folk musician.