TBILISI STILL TRIES TO REPRESENT ST. NORASHEN AS GEORGIAN CHURCH

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.03.2009 21:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Working groups consisting of Armenian and Georgian
historians and architects which are studying the issue of Armenian
St. Norashen Church in Tbilisi, Georgian Culture Ministry official
said.

"After thorough examination, the commission will arrive at a
conclusion," Mikhail Zhuravlev, senior specialist of international
affairs division at the Georgian Ministry of Culture told
PanARMENAIN.Net.

Encroachments on St. Norashen Armenian Church date back to 1994.

On November 16, 2008 Georgian monk Tariel Sikinchelashvili instructed
workers to raze to the ground the graves of Mikhail and Lidia
Tamamshev.

This barbarian act outraged Armenians, who demanded to let the graves
in their place. However, Father Tariel responded that "Armenians have
a habit of taking what doesn’t belong to them."

Upon arrival of representatives of the Armenian Apostolic Church and
parliament member Van Bayburt, the Georgian monk said he just wanted
to replace the gravestones to "clean under them."