99 - all you should know about the Genocide April, 2014 | Page 86

Women cutting grass, Kars, Western Armenia. It is common to
see women performing tasks of hard labor in the fields, while the
city’s tea houses are filled with men

A view of the fortress of Kars from the bathhouse located below

Kurdish girls photographed near their house, in the fields of
Mush. It is rare to see girls without headscarves, because they are
required to wear them everywhere and always

Mt. Ararat, as seen from Igdir. The mountain is strikingly beautiful
when seen from Armenia, but the view from Turkey is not
particularly attractive

K ARS

remained impregnable for centuries. This was

The road stretches through a chain of mountains

the fortress that we lost in 1920 without a shot

with high peaks, covered in snow even in the

being fired, abandoning a considerable amount

warm months of spring. This road through the

of artillery inside and leaving 8000 Armenian

mountains was closed in early April because

soldiers as prisoners. Now the stairs and rooms

of a snowstorm. The drivers were stopped and

of the fortress are visited by tourists from

directed to a village nearby, where they had to

various regions of Turkey, Muslim women with

wait till the road reopened. When we had asked

headscarves, children running around and us

the policeman to allow us to pass, he clarified the

– the descendants of the Armenians who had

situation with a question – “Ermenistan?” The

built, defended, strengthened and then lost this

roadblock was removed and we were allowed to

structure.

continue.

The fortress bears the Turkish flag today – the

The road winds down from the mountains to

erstwhile Byzantine half-crescent, surrounded by

lead directly to Kars, which was considered

a sea of red. According to legend, the red color

the pearl of the house of Bagratuni. It spreads

symbolizes the blood spilled by Turkey’s enemies.

below the lordly peak. The fortress there had

Our flag of the Republic of Armenia also has a