UPDATED: parish, tourists to be re-allowed to currently closed areas of David Gareji this week
A guide says that Azerbaijani border guards took out icons from one of the monasteries which sparked the tension. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Updated: 5:58
Parish and tourists will be re-allowed to the Chichkhituri and Easter monasteries of the David Gareji monastery complex before the end of the week, Deputy Head of the Georgian Border Police Teimuraz Kupatadze said.
The statement comes after an incident which took place between locals and Azerbaijani border guards yesterday.
In order for such incidents to be avoided, we [Georgian and Azerbaijani officials] made the decision not to allow people to the monasteries for several days and to the areas which are now closed,” Kupatadze said.
He stated that Azerbaijan has accepted the “restoration of the regime and routes which were allowed before the incident took place.”
Kupatadze said that the situation is calm at the scene.
Earlier: 11:50
The Georgian Interior Ministry says that a minor incident took place between locals and Azerbaijani border guards yesterday, at the David Gareji monastery complex located at the conditional border between Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The tension has been eased and the situation is absolutely calm as of now,” the Georgian Interior Ministry reports.
The ministry has urged public groups to allow the state border demarcation commission, composed of Georgian and Azerbaijani delegates, to work in a calm environment for the border issue to be settled in a timely manner.
David Gareji is the sixth century monastery complex. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
Local guide Zviad Ananiashvili and the public movement Strength in Unity, say that the situation got tense after Azerbaijani border guards took out icons from the Udabno Monastery of the David Gareji monastery complex and handed them to Georgian border guards.
“The behavior irritated locals, which sparked the tension,” Ananiashvili says.
In April, Azerbaijani borders guards did not allow visitors and clerics into the monastery. However, the problem was resolved shortly after negotiations.
David Gareji is a complex of 22 rock-hewn monasteries and more than 5,000 cells and cave-cells, located in Georgia’s south-east, at the conditional border with Azerbaijan.
Georgia and Azerbaijani have not has not been agreed on the state border since the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991.
The Georgian-Azerbaijani commission working on the demarcation of the state border has met several times.
The Georgian Church has urged clerics and the public to allow the commission work calmly, saying that the David Gareji complex is one of the most precious historic inheritance of Georgia and it must be inside the country.
Georgian clerics and public groups are holding a peaceful rally in Georgia’s David Gareji monastery complex, at the conditional border between Georgia and Azerbaijan. The rally comes amid negotiations between Georgia and Azerbaijan on the border, which has not been agreed upon since the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has stated that Azerbaijan has suspended the construction of a road near the David Gareji monastery complex in Georgia’s south-east, on the conditional border between Georgia and Azerbaijan ‘to avoid complications’ during the negotiations between the two countries to agree on the border.
The Georgian Patriarchate has stated that positive steps have also been taken during the “active negotiations” of Georgia and Azerbaijan regarding Georgia’s 6th century monastery complex David Gareji located at the conditional border between the two countries.
Azerbaijani border guards have now allowed clerics and visitors to enter the medieval Georgian monastery David Gareji, Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said. The president’s administration stated that it is important that the commission working on the demarcation of the Georgia-Azerbaijan border renew work on the issue.
Archimandrite Kirion says that Azerbaijani border guards have opened a tent on the territory of Georgia’s 6th century monastery complex David Gareji, which is located at the conditional border between Georgia and Azerbaijan.The cleric cites Azerbaijani border guards as saying that the tent is “a temporary measure and will be removed as the situation becomes stable.”
Georgian clerics in the 6th Century David Gareji monastery complex, which lies on the conditional border with Azerbaijan, have reported the construction of ‘two huge barracks by Azerbaijan right near the monastery complex.’
Azerbaijan’s State Border Service has opened a new border post on the territory of Georgia’s 6th century David Gareji monastery complex, which is located on the conditional border as the border between the two countries has not been agreed since the collapse of Soviet Union back in 1991.
Georgian Patriarch Ilia II has addressed Chairman of the Caucasus Muslim Board, Sheik-ul-Islam Allahshuqur Pasha-zade, to mediate with the ‘brotherly nation’ of Azerbaijan to ‘fairly resolve issues’ in David Gareji as current actions by the country [Azerbaijan] regarding two monasteries in Georgia’s 6th century monastery complex David Gareji are ‘absolutely unclear.’