YEREVAN STUDENTS’ RALLY PROTESTS TREATMENT OF ARMENIAN CHURCHES IN GEORGIA

Interfax
Dec 3 2008
Russia

More than 2,000 students of Armenian universities held a rally on
Wednesday protesting against a recent series of events involving
Armenian churches in Georgia, including the November 16 desecration
of two tombstones on the graves of known Armenians outside Tbilisi’s
St. Norashen church at the initiative of Georgian Priest Tariel
Sikinchelashvili.

The students gathered outside the headquarters of the UN office
in Yerevan. They then walked toward the building of the Georgian
embassy in Armenia and handed over a letter to Georgian Ambassador
Revaz Gachechiladze, demanding that "this illegal conduct of Georgian
clergymen be stopped and an appropriate assessment be given to what
has happened."

Several years ago, Priest Sikinchelashvili tried to install tombstones
with inscriptions in the Georgian language on the premises of the
St. Norashen Armenian church. In August 2008, he coordinated efforts
to build a fence around the church with symbols allegedly pointing
to its belonging to the Georgian Orthodox Church.

Armenian Minister for Diaspora Affairs Granush Akopian told a news
conference on Wednesday that "not a single priest has any right to
ruin the century-long friendship of the Armenian and Georgian peoples."

Akopian said that the fate of Armenian historical and cultural
monuments in Georgia is high on his ministry’s agenda.