Lraper: 19/03/99

His Beatitude Patriarch Mesrob II of Istanbul and all Turkey 
received yesterday Mrs. Verkin Kasapian Arioba of the Historical 
Heritage Protection Foundation of Turkey (HHPF).

The meeting occurred in the Patriarchal Office where Ms. Arioba 
passed on to His Beatitude information relating to the 
activities of HHPF which was established on 30 December 1996 
with the aim of exploring antiquities within and outside Turkey, 
in order to study, excavate and restore them.

Officially recognised by the Turkish Government as a non-profit,
non-political organisation, the HHPF took the first step for 
restoring the ruins of Ani where an on-sight conference was held 
between 22 and 28 August 1996. The conference, which was 
attended by an international team of scholars and research 
specialists, was made possible by grants received from Samuel H. 
Kress Foundation via the World Monuments Fund, and the HHPF. The 
Cultural Heritage Foundation of New York, USA, provided the 
remainder of the funds.

In May 1997, a series of lectures was organised at the Ecole des 
Hautes Etudes of Sorbonne University about the Ani excavations. 
Dr. Nakish Akguel, one of the founders of the HHPF lectured on 
ceramics found in Ani.

Ms. Arioba told His Beatitude that the HHPF gives special 
importance to establishing relations with scholars and experts 
on the international level as well as relations with local 
authorities and related experts. The Turkish Ministry of Culture 
has been working towards planning and restoring Ani since 1991. 
Unfortunately restoration and excavation work is not always 
coordinated with the government appointed excavation director, 
Prof Dr. Beyhan Karamagarali. Moreover, the restoration process
was not always carried out by experts which led to unsatisfactory
consequences, and sometimes to severe criticism by the 
international academia, like in the case of the city walls of 
Ani. After two years of painstaking efforts on the part of HHPF, 
this faulty restoration of the fortification was halted. This 
was achieved only after a legal investigation was completed 
against the contractor, who was not really the only one to 
blame. Unfortunately, the damage to the historic walls seems to 
be irrevocable. Ms. Arioba stated that the HHPF is now planning 
to support the official establishment of an education centre
where the training of local craftsman under close supervision of 
experts will be carried out.

His Beatitude was also told that even before the establishment 
of the HHPF, the founding members, in cooperation with the 
Cultural Heritage Foundation, New York, started efforts to 
direct international focus on Ani, and to promote several 
preservation initiatives. They also started an important 
cooperation with the World Monuments Fund, a prestigious
international foundation which helps preserve history's greatest 
relics.

Ani was officially nominated to the World Monuments Watch List 
of 100 Endangered sites 1996, and attention directed to it as 
one of the world's irreplacable monuments of cultural heritage 
in imminent peril. After its establishment; the HHPF officially 
nominated Ani and Patara for the 1998-1999 World Monuments Watch 
List. The HHPF has named, as of primary interest, the sites of 
Ani (Kars), Ahlat (Bitlis), Catalhoyuk (Konya) and Patara 
(Antalya).

Patriarch Mesrob thanked Ms. Arioba for the information provided 
about the activities of the HHPF, and pledged the moral support 
of the Patriarchal See for the renovation and preservation of the 
antiqiuities which belong to the common heritage of mankind.

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