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Institute for War & Peace Reporting
May 26 2005
GEORGIANS, ARMENIANS ROW OVER VANISHING MONUMENTS
Ancient church is target of allegations from religious leaders of
both countries.
By Sofo Bukia in Tbilisi
A long-running dispute about the alleged vandalism of medieval
Armenian gravestones in the Georgian capital Tbilisi is still raging
between the churches of both countries.
In early May, the Georgian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church
released a statement saying in effect that inscriptions from the
Norashen church - which they claim as an Armenian site - had been
destroyed and replaced with Georgian ones.
`Gravestones with Georgian inscriptions suddenly appeared in the yard
of the Norashen Armenian church [in the old quarter of Tbilisi] this
spring,' said the statement. `At the same time, the Armenian
gravestones that have been in the churchyard for centuries were moved
and the inscriptions on them erased.'
The scandal around Norashen has brought to the surface a long-running
dispute between the Georgian Orthodox Church and the Armenian
Apostolic Church over ownership of a number of religious buildings in
Georgia.
`Over the past 15 years, the Georgian clergy has occupied and
consecrated several Armenian churches in Tbilisi - including Kusanats
Surb Stepanos, St Bethlehem, the Khikhoy chapel, and several other
churches,' the Armenian statement went on. `The same is expected to
happen to Norashen and another Armenian church named Surb Nshan.'
The alarming reports from the medieval church of Norashen triggered
angry responses in the Armenian press, with journalists reporting on
the `enforced Georgianisation' of Armenian churches in Tbilisi and
elsewhere in Georgia.
In response, young Armenians organised protest actions near Norashen
and the Georgian embassy in Armenia. `The Georgians have so many
historic monuments,' said Mari Mikoyan, a student who heads the Nor
Serund organisation, the youth union of Georgia's Armenians. `Why
should they need to take someone else's culture for their own?'
According to the 2002 census, almost 250,000 Armenians now live in
Georgia, forming 5.7 per cent of its population. In Tbilisi, which
has strong Armenian traditions, 7.6 per cent of the population is now
Armenian. Both communities have very different views on the history
of the city.
The Sioni cathedral, a synagogue, a mosque, and a functioning
Armenian church Surb Gevork are all close to one another in the
Meidan district of old Tbilisi. Norashen is also situated in this
area but its status has never been so clear and the church has been
closed for decades.
Sixty-eight-year-old Shota Lezhava was born and grew up in Meidan. `I
have lived all my life in old Tbilisi, as did my father before me. We
always thought that this was a Georgian church,' he told IWPR.
`I do not remember its name precisely, or whether it has ever been
open. What I know is that there was a library in the building in the
Soviet times. I have heard a legend about a Georgian nobleman who
lost this church to an Armenian merchant - but that is just a story.'
At the Georgian Patriarchate, the deputy spokesman, Zurab
Tskhovrebadze, said he had no knowledge of any changes at Norashen.
And Father Tariel, a Georgian priest whom the Armenian side has
accused of vandalism, said that the only thing that he had done was
to clean the yard of rubbish.
`We share a yard [with the Jvris Mama Georgian temple situated next
to Norashen] and I was busy with that. I planted trees there,' Father
Tariel told IWPR. `I did not touch gravestones. How could I insult
the souls of the dead? The Armenians are just afraid that I will
enter this church but I am not going to do that. For now at any
rate.'
However, government officials conceded that changes had been made at
the church.
Nika Vacheishvili, head of the state department for the protection of
monuments, said `some changes have indeed taken place on Norashen's
territory. In particular, Armenian gravestones have been moved from
one place to another'. Vacheishvili also alleged that Father Tariel
was responsible for this.
`We condemn his actions,' Vacheishvili said. `The status of a
particular church is a confessional issue and it should be resolved
between the two countries' churches. The Georgian state has a firm
position that any cultural monument should be protected irrespective
of its confessional status.'
Samvel Karapetian, a historian with the Research on Armenian
Architecture organisation, which monitors Armenian monuments outside
Armenia, insists that an act of vandalism has taken place.
`The erasing of traces of Armenian culture at Norashen started in
1989 and continued actively in 1995 when Armenian inscriptions, two
khachkars [cross-stones], and two 19th-century frescoes were
destroyed,' said Karapetian, adding that following the 1995 incident
two Armenian archbishops, Garegin and Grigor, came to Tbilisi from
Armenia to meet Georgian Patriarch Ilya II and all work on the church
was suspended until it was decided to whom it belonged.
`However, Armenian gravestones disappeared from the church this
spring and Georgian ones appeared instead of them,' continued
Karapetian. `These are not just words. I have photographs of the
stones that are no longer there.'
Georgian historian Lasha Bakradze told IWPR `perhaps there was a
Georgian church on this site formerly but this is an Armenian
building'.
Georgian prime minister Zurab Nogaideli told journalists in Yerevan
that he did not want the government to become involved in the
dispute, and urged the churches to agree a solution amongst
themselves.
Tskhovrebadze of the Georgian Patriarchate said that his church
leadership has proposed setting up a joint commission of Georgian and
Armenian specialists to consider all issues connected with disputed
controversial churches and monasteries.
`The Georgian Orthodox Church has its own grievances against the
Armenian side. In particular, we mean changes in the Georgian
churches in Javakheti [the southern Georgian province predominantly
populated by ethnic Armenians] and we are ready to discuss this
issue,' said Tskhovrebadze.
At the end of April, Armenia's parliamentary speaker Artur
Bagdasarian met Georgian patriarch Ilya II and they also agreed that
a commission should be formed. However nothing has been do so far.
The Georgian diocese of the Armenian church has kept quiet on the
issue and numerous efforts by IWPR to talk to Bishop Vazgen
Mirzakhanian were unsuccessful. `The bilateral commission has not
been created, therefore, we will refrain from any additional
comments,' said Gayane Bostanjian of the press service of the
diocese.
Although there is a lull in the row around the disputed church,
Tbilisi Armenians are worried that the last evidence of Armenian
history in Norashen may be erased before the promised commission
begins work.
Sofo Bukia is a reporter for 24 Saati newspaper in Tbilisi
May 26 2005
GEORGIANS, ARMENIANS ROW OVER VANISHING MONUMENTS
Ancient church is target of allegations from religious leaders of
both countries.
By Sofo Bukia in Tbilisi
A long-running dispute about the alleged vandalism of medieval
Armenian gravestones in the Georgian capital Tbilisi is still raging
between the churches of both countries.
In early May, the Georgian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church
released a statement saying in effect that inscriptions from the
Norashen church - which they claim as an Armenian site - had been
destroyed and replaced with Georgian ones.
`Gravestones with Georgian inscriptions suddenly appeared in the yard
of the Norashen Armenian church [in the old quarter of Tbilisi] this
spring,' said the statement. `At the same time, the Armenian
gravestones that have been in the churchyard for centuries were moved
and the inscriptions on them erased.'
The scandal around Norashen has brought to the surface a long-running
dispute between the Georgian Orthodox Church and the Armenian
Apostolic Church over ownership of a number of religious buildings in
Georgia.
`Over the past 15 years, the Georgian clergy has occupied and
consecrated several Armenian churches in Tbilisi - including Kusanats
Surb Stepanos, St Bethlehem, the Khikhoy chapel, and several other
churches,' the Armenian statement went on. `The same is expected to
happen to Norashen and another Armenian church named Surb Nshan.'
The alarming reports from the medieval church of Norashen triggered
angry responses in the Armenian press, with journalists reporting on
the `enforced Georgianisation' of Armenian churches in Tbilisi and
elsewhere in Georgia.
In response, young Armenians organised protest actions near Norashen
and the Georgian embassy in Armenia. `The Georgians have so many
historic monuments,' said Mari Mikoyan, a student who heads the Nor
Serund organisation, the youth union of Georgia's Armenians. `Why
should they need to take someone else's culture for their own?'
According to the 2002 census, almost 250,000 Armenians now live in
Georgia, forming 5.7 per cent of its population. In Tbilisi, which
has strong Armenian traditions, 7.6 per cent of the population is now
Armenian. Both communities have very different views on the history
of the city.
The Sioni cathedral, a synagogue, a mosque, and a functioning
Armenian church Surb Gevork are all close to one another in the
Meidan district of old Tbilisi. Norashen is also situated in this
area but its status has never been so clear and the church has been
closed for decades.
Sixty-eight-year-old Shota Lezhava was born and grew up in Meidan. `I
have lived all my life in old Tbilisi, as did my father before me. We
always thought that this was a Georgian church,' he told IWPR.
`I do not remember its name precisely, or whether it has ever been
open. What I know is that there was a library in the building in the
Soviet times. I have heard a legend about a Georgian nobleman who
lost this church to an Armenian merchant - but that is just a story.'
At the Georgian Patriarchate, the deputy spokesman, Zurab
Tskhovrebadze, said he had no knowledge of any changes at Norashen.
And Father Tariel, a Georgian priest whom the Armenian side has
accused of vandalism, said that the only thing that he had done was
to clean the yard of rubbish.
`We share a yard [with the Jvris Mama Georgian temple situated next
to Norashen] and I was busy with that. I planted trees there,' Father
Tariel told IWPR. `I did not touch gravestones. How could I insult
the souls of the dead? The Armenians are just afraid that I will
enter this church but I am not going to do that. For now at any
rate.'
However, government officials conceded that changes had been made at
the church.
Nika Vacheishvili, head of the state department for the protection of
monuments, said `some changes have indeed taken place on Norashen's
territory. In particular, Armenian gravestones have been moved from
one place to another'. Vacheishvili also alleged that Father Tariel
was responsible for this.
`We condemn his actions,' Vacheishvili said. `The status of a
particular church is a confessional issue and it should be resolved
between the two countries' churches. The Georgian state has a firm
position that any cultural monument should be protected irrespective
of its confessional status.'
Samvel Karapetian, a historian with the Research on Armenian
Architecture organisation, which monitors Armenian monuments outside
Armenia, insists that an act of vandalism has taken place.
`The erasing of traces of Armenian culture at Norashen started in
1989 and continued actively in 1995 when Armenian inscriptions, two
khachkars [cross-stones], and two 19th-century frescoes were
destroyed,' said Karapetian, adding that following the 1995 incident
two Armenian archbishops, Garegin and Grigor, came to Tbilisi from
Armenia to meet Georgian Patriarch Ilya II and all work on the church
was suspended until it was decided to whom it belonged.
`However, Armenian gravestones disappeared from the church this
spring and Georgian ones appeared instead of them,' continued
Karapetian. `These are not just words. I have photographs of the
stones that are no longer there.'
Georgian historian Lasha Bakradze told IWPR `perhaps there was a
Georgian church on this site formerly but this is an Armenian
building'.
Georgian prime minister Zurab Nogaideli told journalists in Yerevan
that he did not want the government to become involved in the
dispute, and urged the churches to agree a solution amongst
themselves.
Tskhovrebadze of the Georgian Patriarchate said that his church
leadership has proposed setting up a joint commission of Georgian and
Armenian specialists to consider all issues connected with disputed
controversial churches and monasteries.
`The Georgian Orthodox Church has its own grievances against the
Armenian side. In particular, we mean changes in the Georgian
churches in Javakheti [the southern Georgian province predominantly
populated by ethnic Armenians] and we are ready to discuss this
issue,' said Tskhovrebadze.
At the end of April, Armenia's parliamentary speaker Artur
Bagdasarian met Georgian patriarch Ilya II and they also agreed that
a commission should be formed. However nothing has been do so far.
The Georgian diocese of the Armenian church has kept quiet on the
issue and numerous efforts by IWPR to talk to Bishop Vazgen
Mirzakhanian were unsuccessful. `The bilateral commission has not
been created, therefore, we will refrain from any additional
comments,' said Gayane Bostanjian of the press service of the
diocese.
Although there is a lull in the row around the disputed church,
Tbilisi Armenians are worried that the last evidence of Armenian
history in Norashen may be erased before the promised commission
begins work.
Sofo Bukia is a reporter for 24 Saati newspaper in Tbilisi