APPROPRIATION OF OTHER’S MONUMENTS, HISTORY AND LANGUAGE IS THE FATE OF POLITICALLY UNDERDEVELOPED NATIONS
Karine Ter-Sahakyan

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.12.2008 GMT+04:00

Georgian leadership is consistent in one matter only – through Georgian
Orthodox Church (GOC) it appropriates Armenian churches and demolishes
Armenian monuments and tombs.

Hardly had the terror over Norashen calmed down, when Georgia or,
to be more exact, the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) resumed stirring
up the trouble. On December 11 the Christian Democratic Movement of
Georgia decided to hold a rally in front of the Armenian Embassy in
Tbilisi. According to Head of the movement Giorgi Andriadze, the rally
was staged to demand ‘return’ of Georgian churches situated in Armenia.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "A dozen of historically important Georgian
monasteries and churches are situated in the north of Armenia,
in Lore-Tashir. Unfortunately, they have been utterly robbed,
which proves that they belong to the Georgian Orthodox Church,"
declared Giorgi Andriadze. In his words, the Georgian Patriarchate
deliberately kept away from raising the issue in order to avoid
tensions and maintain the status quo. "However, the Armenian side
tries to aggravate the situation and unfairly demands the return of
churches. And since Armenians continue with their provocations, we
can do nothing but remind them about our legal rights to demand the
return of Georgian churches situated in the territory of Armenia,"
Andriadze said. He also assumed that all this story of clarifying
the church belonging is a provocation by a third side, which aims to
breed hostility between the two nations.

On the whole, appropriation of other’s monuments, history and
language is the fate of politically underdeveloped nations, which
in the course of their existence prove utterly unable to create
national values. These nations are incapable of forming their own
government; they can’t even preserve what really belongs to them. To
our great regret, Georgia is one of these nations. Still back in
90s American Political Scientist Nikolay Zlobin declared Georgia to
belong to the category of defective states that have no future. This
definition is quite right, and it can hardly undergo changes. The
history of the past 20 years proves the extreme subjection of any
president of this country. Georgian leadership is consistent in one
matter only – through Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) it appropriates
Armenian churches and demolishes Armenian monuments and tombs. And
it would not be that unreasonable if these acts of vandalism were
not accompanied by statements of Georgia’s belonging to the European
civilization. Moreover, Georgians quite seriously speak of their
being one of the founders of the European civilization.

On the whole it is all the same to Armenia what her neighbours
call themselves. What is important for us is that these carriers
of Â"civilizationÂ" keep away from Armenian churches. But in this
matter Europe gives way to Asia. It is not any more a secret that
after George Bush Turkey and Azerbaijan serve as models for Mikhail
Saakashvili, especially in the Armenian issue. The latest example is
the case of Norashen.

According to the Head of the GOC Press Service David Sharashenidze,
the belonging of the Church of St. Norashen situated in Tbilisi will
be established based on the conclusions of Georgian and Armenian
experts. "Armenian sources say that this monument belongs to the
Armenian Church. But there are also some other sources, including
Georgian ones, which call this claim into question. It is a matter
of expert-scientists’ consideration," declared Sharashenidze. Thus,
it is rather like the case with Turkey’s recognition of the Genocide
– forming a commission, making some facts more accurate, clarifying,
etc. However, we should admit that Ilham Aliyev acts more directly;
he simply destroys Armenian monuments preserved in Azerbaijan. And
since there are no monuments, there is no need to form different
kinds of commissions. The thing is that there is always a possibility
that an honest historian will turn up and tell the whole truth. Thus,
Turkey and Georgia should consider it well before they suggest forming
a commission.

And lastly, about 650 Armenian churches are presently counted in the
territory of Georgia. In the 19th century there used to be 29 Armenian
churches in Tbilisi but only two of them stand there today. To this
day in the territory of Georgia there are 6 Armenian churches whose
belonging is still unidentified. They were all confiscated at the
Soviet times. They are St. Norashen (XVc.), St. Nshan (XVIIIc.),
Shamkhoretsots St. Astvatsatsin (second name Karmir Avetaran, XVIIIc.),
Yerevantsots St. Minas (XVIII c.), St. Gevorg of Mughni (XIV c.),
and St. Nshan (XIX c.) situated in Akhaltskha. Unfortunately, it is
clear from past experience that there is very little these churches
will be returned to the Armenian Apostolic Church.

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