On August 9, the OSCE mission will conduct a planned monitoring on the line of contact of the armed forces of the Artsakh Republic and Azerbaijan in the Akna-Hindarkh road sector.

According to the press release of Artsakh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh have expressed willingness to support the conduct of the monitoring and ensure the safety of the members of the OSCE mission.

The Turkish opposition has demanded that the authorities explain why public restrooms and dressing rooms have been built in place of the Armenian cemetery located in the Artamed (Edremit) district of Van. The authorities’ action has been strictly criticized by Deputy Murat Bakan representing the oppositional Republican People’s Party (CHP) in Izmir and has raised the issue in parliament.

According to the Turkish Birgun’s website, Bakan has submitted to Minister of Culture Numan Kurtulmush and Minister for the Environment and Urban Development Mehmet Ozhasek questions regarding the topic with the hope of receiving a response from them.

In the question addressed to Kurtulmush in particular, Bakan asks if the Ministry of Culture of Turkey has permitted the construction of restrooms in a place where there are historically valuable items based on the evaluations of scholars and if the Ministry has launched an investigation against the treasure hunters in the area and people who have permitted construction of restrooms in that area.

Let us mention that the historic Dilkaya Hill is also located in that area. Bakan particularly stated the following in regard to the hill:

“What measures has your Ministry undertaken to protect Dilkaya Hill and transmit it to the future generations?”

Let us remind that earlier, by the assignment of the Municipality of Artamed, a public restroom and dressing rooms were built on the historic hill and Armenian cemetery located next to the public beach.

According to the Turkish Birgün, in the mentioned area, there used to an Armenian district that is known as the birthplace of famous Armenian painter Arshile Gorky. Today, the Armenian cemetery located next to the district has been disrespected, several human bones have been removed from the soil and scattered here and there due to construction. The hill and cemetery have also been in the focus of treasure hunters, who have done everything they can to dig and demolish the area, writes Ermeniahaber.am.