Hovvi kamurj (Shepherd's bridge)

 Medieval / Middle Ages, bridge, historical building

Hovvi Kamurj (Armenian: Հովվի կամուրջ { meaning: Shepherd's bridge }, Turkish: Çobandede Köprüsü { meaning: Shepherd's bridge } ) is a medieval Armenian bridge built at XIII century on Araxes river. Famous Greek historian Strabo spoke of the Araxes river "Pontis inamabilis Araxes", means "Arexes dislikes bridges". The river of Araxes starts and ends in territory of historical Armenia. Abrupt nature of this river was known at all times. Everytime Armenians built bridges on it, the river changed direction and damage them. Once upon a time in the middle ages, builders noticed a shepherd passing by. They asked him to lay the first stone of the future bridge. The new bridge was made successful and river never destroyed it. Since the time it was named Hovvi Kamurj (in Armenian for Shepherd's Bridge). After the genocide when Armenian population of the district of Basen (where the bridge situated) was massacred, turks named the bridge "Çobandede Köprüsü" which has a same meaning (Shepherd's Bridge) in turkish. Timeteos priest in 1865 sketched a construction inscription in Armenian at the eastern side of the bridge that says about the repair of the bridge in 1160 by the abbot of the monastery of St. Mary of the city of Daroinq (now Köprüköy). Inscription said this bridge was made by Armenians in 8th century (long before the rule of Emir Coban Salduz in 1297-98). There were a two another (Arabic) inscriptions containing the same meaning that Armenian one. During the so-called restoration Turks has scratched off the Armenian inscription from the bridge. Since 1920th Turkish historiography start to assign historical heritage of Armenia to the "Seljuk", "Georgian" and "Byzantine" monuments. Along with millions of Armenian monuments remaining in the so-called Eastern Turkey (in fact - Western Armenia) the Shepherd's Bridge was also subjected to obliteration and after its construction inscriptions in Armenian has been removed Turks began to safely call the monument as "Seljuk" too. Turkish historiography persistently neglects, hides and distorts all the facts that the lands Turks got after Armenian genocide were inhabited by Armenians for the 4 millenia before 1915. Western politicians and most of historians traditionally support Turkish historical revisionism, because Armenia is ally of Russia, and seems like strategical goals having lower values than loyality and honesty. For now.