The Armenian diocese of Georgia has announced that it has confronted with anti-Armenian forces. According to its representatives, there are negative attitudes towards the Armenian population, Armenian culture and history by scientists and state organizations.
The Armenian diocese was not too pleased with the conference entitled “Christianity in our lives: past, present and future” which took place at the National Academy of Sciences recently. The representative of the Armenian church in Georgia made a speech entitled “The Armenian diocese in Georgia: history and modern times, where he emphasized the role that the Armenian church plays in Georgia’s history. At the same time, the speaker stated that recently, some public figures and scientists are doing the best they can to lessen the role that the Armenian church plays and sometimes humiliate the Armenian church with negative expressions. However, the representative of the diocese also said that Georgia feels the need of granting a status to the Armenian diocese and once again reflecting upon the Armenian churches in Georgia. The people present at the conference were negative towards the speech and as a result the patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church made an announcement, stating: … “We are saddened by the non-friendly behavior of members of the National Academy of Sciences of Georgia towards the Georgian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The members recently misbehaved during the international conference dedicated to “Christianity in our lives: past, present and future” which took place recently in Tbilisi. The representative of the Armenian diocese participating in the conference made a speech in which he presented the role that the Armenian Apostolic Church plays in Georgia, as well as issues that worry the patriarchy. In addition, the issues in regard to giving the patriarchy legal rights and returning the historical churches were discussed. Some scientists present did not understand the speech and that was the reason that some offensive comments were made towards the Armenian Apostolic Church…With the purpose of creating obstacles for the negative politics led by Georgian organizations, mass media and other people against Armenians, the Georgian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church has tried to raise some issues many times. However, unfortunately, the insults towards the Armenian population of Georgia and the Armenian Apostolic Church have passed and continue to pass all limits.” In other issues, the Armenian diocese belongs in the list of more than 600 churches and religious structures, claiming that they belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church.
On that occasion, in order to clear some things up, “Akhali taoba” asked leader of the press services of the Orthodox Church Zurab Tskhovrebadze.
-Months ago, when things were not too good for the Norashen church, a Georgian-Armenian joint committee was founded which was supposed to find out about the subject being debated. As a matter of fact, they had even decided not to give any information to mass media until they found out about something. But for some reason, the Armenian side did not go along with the agreement and made its own announcements.
-Have you met with representatives of the Armenian diocese after they had commented on the list of churches?
-No, I have not met with them after the announcements.
-So, you haven’t discussed the debates in the religious council of the ombudsman staff?
-No, we have not discussed anything. The main thing now is to quickly end the ongoing debate so that a third party does not get mixed up in all this.
-What churches does the Armenian side want to include?
-There are some which are located in the Akhaltskha region.
-President of the National Academy of Sciences of Georgia Tamaz Gamkrelidze said the following about the Georgian-Armenian cultural/religious debate:
-Despite the long, historical friendship, there has been a unique form of “competition” between Georgian and Armenian cultures and churches. For many years, our Armenian colleagues have been debating about the origin and national belonging of culture, art and churches and have published their writings. Very often, they find an “Armenian trace” in any creation that they discover. Georgia’s Academy of Sciences has always protected and will protect the interests of our people. The historical references were once again discussed during the conference and confirmed that there is still resistance and incomprehensibility of the church and culture among Armenians and Georgians.
“Akhali taoba” , Georgia
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