Arrests In Tigranakert For Illegal Excavations

Arrests have occurred in Tigranakert for illegal excavations. A total of eight people were arrested, four of whom were police officers.

It turned out that the police brought an armored vehicle to the excavation site to demonstrate that the excavations were allegedly legal. This was reported by Akunq.net with a reference to the Hurriyet newspaper.

Last week, the Department of Smuggling and Organized Crime of the Security Directorate of Diyarbakir (Tigranakert, Historical Armenia) was notified of illegal excavations. As a result of the investigation, 8 people were arrested – among them the Director of State Security of Silvan Omer Oztürk and a number of other police officers.

A group of 8 people had already dug a 1-meter-deep pit when police officers following them arrested them at the crime scene.

After an interrogation in the smuggling and organized crime department of the Diyarbakir Security Directorate, the suspects were sent to the Ministry of Justice.

The suspects gave false testimonies that they were allegedly searching for gold and silver coins buried by members of Kurdish groups. However, the investigation revealed that their goal was to find treasures left by the Armenians.

For many years, locals have been hunting for treasures left by Armenians, the native inhabitants of Historical Armenia. And with this hunt, Armenian shrines and graves are being regularly desecrated.