The same image presented before Dr. Karamagarale leaves her without an explanation but adds that Khizonk was in a military zone and adamantly defends Turkish soldiers who she claims would never intentionally destroy churches.
According to Samvel Karapetian it was only about 40 years ago that Turkey began this policy of knocking down its Armenian history,. For decades after the genocide Armenian churches stood vacant and as an eerie reminder of the ancient Armenian civilization known as great builders and cultivators of the land. It was not till the 1960�s, when the new generation of the survivors began calling for Turkish retribution that Ankara responded by erasing the evidence.
The Armenian Genocide, often called the �forgotten Genocide�, started up during the First World War as the fears began to spread that the nation�s vast Armenian population would side with enemy Russia and sabotage the war effort. The order was given and Armenian males were rounded up and never seen or heard from again. The remaining women, children and elderly were ordered to take what they could carry and sent out on a grueling march into the Syrian desert.
In the process hundreds of thousands of Armenians, perhaps as many as a million and a half died from starvation, thirst, and attacks from Kurdish bandits after their gold and young girls. The accounts of survivors speak of many who could no longer bear the suffering and drowned themselves in Euphrates, some taking their children with them.
Inside their bags they concealed old photographs of churches taken before 1915 and re-shot some of these same images today. The before and after images placed side by side one another is shocking.
A pre genocide photo at Bagrevand shows a massive 7th century church which is today no more than a vacant lot darkened by mounds of black dust from the mortar. Not even a single stone remains.
�We are very aware that in many cases villagers destroy old structures for their own use so we made a careful inspection of the surrounding homes,� says Mr. Karapetian, �but we found no signs of the church proving it was destroyed by the government and the stones were then disposed of.�
�We were particularly interested in knowing if we could find Khachkars inside Turkey,� says Samvel Karapetian.
They found them, but inside Kurdish homes used as common building stones, yet in a sense rescued from Turkish bulldozers and sledgehammers�
�One turned up in a village right under our feet as a bridge over a narrow stream. We dusted it off and staring back at us was a 10th century Khachkar.�
Until 1991 Karabakh was in the control of Azerbaijan, a decision made by Stalin back in the 1920s when Karabakh�s population was 95% Armenian.
As the Soviet Union crumbled Karabakh declared its independence, but Azerbaijan, who had just successfully freed themselves from Moscow control, didn�t quite see it the same and responded with a Sarajevo style siege over the capital. After four years of fighting and 30,000 lives lost a ceasefire was declared and boarders were drawn in sand.
Today the situations is calm except around the boarder where sniper fire still rings out. It has been a decade since the ceasefire and with no found peace the conflict remains � and in the hearts of the people of both nations �war still rages.
On a hill overlooking the capital Stepanakert is the massive two headed statue �Papik- Tatik� or �Grandfather- Grandmother� that has since become a symbol of the conflict. �There bodies are deep into the earth like the roots of the people of Karabakh,� asserts a woman out by the landmark. �To lift us out of our land is physically impossible�