Azerbaijanis turn ancient Armenian site into barbecue restaurant

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijanis have turned a section of a ruined historic Armenian city dating back to the 1st century BC into a barbecue restaurant, Monuments Watch reports.

In the aftermath of the 44-day war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in fall 2020, all the excavations and the entire archaeological site went under Azerbaijan's control. A video published by a YouTube user on October 31 now shows that Azeris have built a concrete platform in an area known as the Tigranakert Royal Springs park to set up barbecue grills there, one of which was placed right on the edge of an excavated pool.

In the Soviet period, the Azerbaijanis had turned a fortress built in the mid-18th century near the Springs into a restaurant. "Which means the practice of turning a historical and cultural environment into a kebab stall is an old tradition" among the Azeris, the Monuments Watch said.

From 2010 until the 44-day war, the fortress was home to the Tigranakert Archaeological Museum, while the area of the Royal Springs Park served as a platform for cultural events.

Excavations at Tigranakert began in 2005, when it was first discovered, and until 2020 were ongoing under the directorship of Dr. Hamlet L. Petrosyan of the Armenian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography. Archaeologists have uncovered two of the main walls of the city, as well as Hellenistic-style towers and an Armenian basilica church dating to the 5-7th centuries. During the excavations of 2008–2010, silver coins of the Parthian monarchs Mithridates IV (r. 57–54 BC) and Orodes II (r. 57–37 BC) were found.