Armenian monuments in Iran sponsored by government, Armenian expert says

After a long interval, it is for the first time that the Iranian government has sponsored studies of Armenian monuments in Iran.
Samvel Karapetyan, head of the Yerevan branch of the Research on Armenian Architecture (RAA) NGO, was on a visit to Iran, June 10 to July 10. He was studying Armenian monuments and fortresses.

At his meeting with journalists on Monday, Karapetyan said that the Armenian researchers visited the parts of Iran that were once ancient Armenia, Parspatunik or Gharadagh, Artaz province (present-day Maku), Her province of ancient Armenia (present-day Khoy) and Garevand (present-day Salmas). The group could not visit the firth province, Urmia (Kaputan). "We visited four provinces and saw as many monuments as in Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and western Armenia,' Karapetyan said. He pointed out that the research group met Armenians only in Salmas.

According to Karapetyan, Salmas was populated with Armenians until the 1940-'50s. The researcher pointed out that churches and fortresses have been preserved rather well.

"Government sponsorship can generally be seen everywhere," Karapetyan said. People can visit the monuments, he said. Some places were damaged by treasure hunters. "This evil is everywhere, but Turkey is the only state sponsoring treasure hunting," Karapetyan said. "In general, the state has an aim to preserve monuments. Some of them, as well as bridges, have been renovated. In general, we can see government sponsorship everywhere," Karapetyan said. He reported that the research group has come back with about 6,000 pictures.

Armenian monuments in Iran had been studied since 1960s. However, the work came to a standstill later. After a long interval, it is for the first time that the Iranian government has sponsored studies of Armenian monuments in Iran. Karapetyan said that the research is conducted in cooperation with Mr. Sherley Avetisyan, Director of the Artak Manukian museum in Tehran.