Alexander Lapshin, the Russian-Israeli blogger convicted – and later acquitted – in Azerbaijan over a controversial trip to the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic has shared on Facebook a photo from Ani, a historical Armenian capital currently on the territory of Turkey, expressing regret that ”the Armenians are losing a magnificent tourist attraction.”
The blogger also speaks of his failed attempt to enter the city.
”I didn’t want to write about this, but the bureaucracy and discords between Armenian and Russian border guards [Armenia’s shared borders with Turkey and Iran are under Russian troops’ control] prevented us from seeing the ancient Armenian capital. Armenian [troops] sent us to the Russians and the latter – to the Armenians for permission. The red tape dragged on for about three weeks. As a bonus, we saw how the residents in hte border villages live,” he says, promising a special footage to cover the topic separately.
The blogger notes that the ancient city lying in ruins is not thus
accessible to many foreign tourists interested in seeing historical
monuments.
”The problem is that the Soviet-time gate
streches 3km-4km away from the real border, and there is a military base
stationed there. Nobody is allowed to step across it, whereas they
could take buses with tourists there, enabling also the local residents –
who live in extreme poverty – to earn money a little bit,” reads his
post.