Ani, the Ghost City of a thousand and one churches in Turkey

New Delhi: Ani is a ruined medieval Armenian city-site situated in the Turkish province of Kars, near the border with Armenia.The city is located on a triangular site, visually dramatic and naturally defensive, protected on its eastern side by the ravine of the Akhurian River and on its western side by the Bostanlar or Tzaghkotzadzor valley. The Akhurian is a branch of the Araks River and forms part of the current border between Turkey and Armenia. Called the "City of 1001 Churches," Ani stood on various trade routes and its many religious buildings, palaces, and fortifications were amongst the most technically and artistically advanced structures in the world.It is a ghost city today but once its Armenian inhabitants numbered close to 200 thousand. In its heyday it was a metropolis which rivalled Constantinople, Cairo or Baghdad as a center of culture and enterprise. Although it was never on traditional trade routes its sheer size and power commanded visits by merchants from all directions. The city is the victim of a colossal and centuries old struggle for power between various factions in the region. Founded in the fourth or fifth century AD the following millennium saw Armenians, Kurds, Georgians, Mongols and Turks struggle for and ascend to power in the city-state. Almost each time a faction rose to power the city was ransacked almost to the point of obliteration. Ani finally wheezed its metaphorical last breath by the middle of the eighteenth century, exhausted to extinction, as it were, by the constant struggle for supremacy over its dominion. The city was originally Armenian and the territory on which it stands is still disputed between modern day Turkey and Armenia. It was first mentioned in the annals of the Armenian Kamsarakan dynasty in the fifth century AD. They were one of the seven great houses of Parthia and their origins went back to the Persian Arsacid – a major Iran based power.The name of the city seems to have come from Ani-Kamakh, an Armenian fortress but was also known as Khnamk though historians do not really know why. Chosen for its naturally defensive situation, to the east it is protected by a ravine and river, to the west a steep valley.The early ninth century saw the decline of the Kamsarakans and they were replaced by another Armenian dynasty, the Bagratuni. A pivotal point for the success of the city came in 992 when the head Bishops of the Armenian Church moved their sear to the thriving city state. A pair of quarrelling siblings would start Ani's protracted but inexorable decline. When King Gagik I died in 1020 neither of his sons would defer to the other and so the kingdom was split apart. The older, Hovhannes Smbat took over Ani and the younger, Ashot, the rest of the Bagratuni principality.Hovannes Smbat wanted and needed peace in his time so struck a deal which meant just that but would have terrible long term consequences for the city. When Hovannes Smbat died in 1041, Basil's successor, Michael IV, obviously wanted what had been promised and claimed sovereignty. The new King of Ani, Gagik II, was having none of this and managed to fight back no less than three armies sent to capture the city. However, the still living Ashot was captured and although he had never been king of Ani, this final humiliation led to the surrender of the city.So, in 1045 Ani became a Byzantine city, together with a Greek governor. It was now part of what people called The New Rome. Not for too long, however. The Seljuk Turks had other ideas for the city and in 1064 the army of their Sultan, Alp Arslan (aided by the Georgians under King Bagrat) laid siege to the city.Once the city was captured, Sultan Alp Arslan ordered the complete and total slaughter of the population.The Sultan eventually became disinterested in the city and sold it, lock stock and barrel to a Muslin Kurdish dynasty known as the Shaddadids. The 1001 churches would be joined by mosques.An uneasy peace settled between the overwhelmingly Christian and Armenian population and their new Muslim overlords. The Georgians invaded and held the city not once or twice but three times (1124, 61 and 71). Each time they would chastise and punish the Shaddadids while eventually releasing power back to them. Eventually the Georgians, under their legendary Queen Tamara, took final and decisive action in 1199. They removed the Shaddadids permanently from power and gave governorship of the city to the Armenians. In 1236 the Mongols captured Ani and put a large percentage of the population to the sword. The city was ‘rediscovered' by archaeologists during the next century. Several excavations took place but further damage would be done after the First World War. Turkey and Armenia continued to militarily fight over territory until 1921 when Ani, much to the chagrin of the Armenians, was contained within the borders of Turkey.