Armenian church protests to Georgia at vandalism of graves

Regnum, Moscow
20 Mar 05

The Armenian Eparchy in Georgia has protested at the sudden appearance
of Georgian gravestones in an Armenian churchyard in Tbilisi and the
vandalism of Armenian gravestones in the same church, the Russian
Regnum news agency reports. The Eparchy is also concerned at what it
describes as “anti-Armenian propaganda” in the Georgian media and
calls for the desecration of Armenian monuments to be stopped. The
following is the text of report by Russian news agency Regnum headlined
“Anti-Armenian moods in Georgia: the Armenian Eparchy urges the acts of
vandalism to be stopped”. Subheadings have been inserted editorially:

Vandalism in Armenian churchyard

As the Regnum news agency reported earlier, quoting the Armenian
Eparchy in Tbilisi, the 17-year conflict connected with one of
Tbilisi’s Armenian churches – Norashen – has entered a new phase. A
few months ago gravestones with Georgian inscriptions suddenly appeared
in the graveyard of this church. The stones were found strewn about in
the churchyard and wrapped in iron wire. These stones were then neatly
arranged next to the walls of the church. At the same time, Armenian
tombstones situated on the other side of the church had been subjected
to acts of vandalism and the Armenian inscriptions had been defaced.

Regnum was told yesterday at the Eparchy that after the hullabaloo
caused by the appearance of the “false gravestones with Georgian
inscriptions”, which are still lying in the Armenian Norashen church,
the Georgian supreme ecclesiastical leadership gave a convincing
assurance that the patriarchy is determined to solve the Norashen
issue in a positive manner. However, the source reports, several
days have passed since these promises and the celibate priest Abgar,
the deputy head of the Armenian Eparchy in Georgia, has witnessed
the work which is being carried out by Georgian priests and workers
in front of the Norashen church (pits have been dug, trees planted,
and so on). “Despite the agreement the appropriation of the Armenian
Norashen church is continuing surreptitiously in order to present
everyone with a fait accompli. The Georgian priest [Father] Tariel
(the same one who destroyed the well-known frescos of Hovnatatyan
and the khachkars [cross stones]) said: “The land is ours, the church
is ours and we do what we like and what we are instructed to do and
generally you lag behind us, we are fed up with you .”

Armenian church protests

The Armenian Eparchy in Georgia, against the background of the
events around the Norashen church, expresses extreme concern at the
“growing anti-Armenian attitudes in Georgia (where, according to the
population census of 2002, the number of Armenians was 5.6 per cent of
the population), which is expressed by the anti-Armenian propaganda
in the Georgian media”. The source presents as an example articles
in the Georgian Times newspaper of 24 February 2005, which reports:
“The Armenians are doing everything to see that Georgia does not
exist as a state”, “If the Armenians had the material funds they
would take away our language”, “I cannot remember an occasion when
an Armenian did anything of benefit to Georgia”, “A Georgianized
Armenian will not become a Georgian, he strives for power – a clear
example of this is the incumbent Georgian president”. The report of
the Armenian Georgian eparchy goes on to say that in the past 17 years
the ancient Armenian Very cemetery has been completely destroyed. “The
graves of well-known politicians, generals, scientists and poets who,
being Armenians, played a big role for Georgia, are being destroyed,”
the Eparchy points out. The Armenian Eparchy in Georgia calls for
these acts of vandalism to be stopped, to prevent the desecration of
the deceased and not to obstruct the fruitful dialogue between the
Georgian patriarchy and the Armenian Catholic Church.

Some information about the Armenian Eparchy in Georgia: The Norashen
church is located in Tbilisi, on Leselidze Street. On the left
hand side is the Greek church which has now been transformed into
a Georgian church; to the right is the Georgian Sioni church; a
few metres further down are the synagogue and the mosque. For many
centuries various confessions have existed together side by side
in peace and friendship. The Norashen church was founded in 1467
by Sadat. In 1650 Khoja Nazar rebuilt the almost completely ruined
church, whose cupola had been built by the master craftsman Petros.
With time, in 1989, a little before the restoration of Georgia’s
state independence, under the influence of the ultra-nationalistically
minded [former Georgian President Zviad] Gamsakhurdia, the Georgians
intensified and expanded their activity in relation to the church with
the aim of turning it into a Georgian Orthodox Church. These actions
achieved their culmination in 1994 when local Armenians started to
grow concerned when they found out that all significant books had
been confiscated from the archives.

Events showed that Norashen is awaiting its fate, similar to the fate
of the other Armenian church Karmir Avetaryan, which once was the
highest (40 metres) Armenian church in Tbilisi and destroyed in 1989.
On 25 January 1995, the Armenians living near the Norashen church
noticed that some “restoration” work had been carried out inside the
church. On 8 February, wall inscriptions by Petros telling of the
reconstruction of the cupola in 1650 were destroyed. Other Armenian
inscriptions, two khachkars and two magnificent 19th century frescos,
created by representatives of the Hovnatanyan school, were also
damaged and destroyed. A few days after these acts of vandalism, a
group of Armenians carrying a photograph were not allowed into the
church; instead they were associated with fascist-minded Georgians
and the Georgian clergy. On 15 February the church was sanctified as
the Georgian Orthodox Church. A month later, Archbishops Garegin and
Grigor arrived in Tbilisi and met with the Georgian Patriarch Ilia
II, after which it was decided to suspend any actions until better
days. The church was closed.