GEORGIA SHOWED CLAIMS FOR ARMENIAN MONUMENTS BACK IN SOVIET TIMES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
10.09.2009 17:25 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Georgia showed claims for Western Armenian monuments
back in Soviet times, Armenian architecture expert Samvel Karapetyan
told a news conference in Yerevan, commenting upon Georgian side’s
recent attempts to appropriate Armenian cultural monuments. "Georgia’s
claims for Armenian churches and monuments, especially those
situated in Tayk province (presently known as Artvin province in
Turkish territory), date back to earlier times. That was one of the
provinces which adopted Chalcedonism, being under the guardianship of
Georgian church," Karapetyan said, adding that it was one of reasons
Chalcedonian churches used Georgian alphabet letters invented by
Mashtots. "Those records contain many serious mistakes. Therefore,
their authors couldn’t have been Georgians. The records were obviously
written by Armenians converted to Chalcedonism,"the expert stressed
adding that Georgians had no right make any claims to monuments.

Karapetyan noted with regret that monuments and churches on those
territories were studied only by one person – architect Tiran Marityan,
who later published relevant materials.

PanARMENIAN.Net reported earlier that the historical Armenian
province of Tayk had been visited by a group of "Georgian
artist-pilgrims". Organized within the frames of Georgian "Living
Music" festival, the trip consists of several stages. Such initiative
was proposed by Georgian Writers’ Union and approved by Tbilisi
municipality.