David Gareji Monastery Archimandrite Claims Azerbaijan Blocked Entrance
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, April 26
Archimandrite Kirion (Oniani) of Georgia's David Gareji Monastery Complex, which is located at the border of neighboring Azerbaijan, claims that the Azerbaijani border guards blocked the Udabno monastery and the clergymen are not allowed to enter it.
The cleric says the border guards of the neighboring country work on the paths without warning and banning signs and the Georgian border guards do not react to this.
“The clergymen are not allowed to enter the monastery and temples. There is such a crisis situation when it was in 2012 after the Georgian side ordered its border guards not to pass the tourists from the Azerbaijani side,” Archimandrite Kirion stated, explaining that in 2012 Georgian authorities opened the entrance after the neighboring state requested.
The clergyman says it has been three days that the entrance is blocked, adding he notified the authorities but nothing has changed so far.
Archimandrite Kirion says that Georgia should do something about the disputable section of the border. He believes that the situation got worse after the President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, paid a visit there with the representatives of Europa Nostra organization, a pan-European Federation for Cultural Heritage representing citizens’ organizations that work on safeguarding Europe's cultural and natural heritage, which included the site into the list of the most endangered places.
The president looked around the complex, which is enlisted in Europe’s 7 Most Endangered Heritage and spoke about the urgent resolution of the border issue.
Vladimer Konstantinidi, the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, commented on the statement of Archimandrite Kirion.
He said the Georgian side is working with the neighboring state to solve this issue, adding “this might take some time.”
Konstantinidi said that the border guards of Azerbaijan restricted only the movement of tourists to the complex territory.
“We are working to resolve the issue to prevent pilgrims or tourists from moving on. Communication is underway in a partnering atmosphere, but it will take some time to resolve such issues,” he said.
Konstantinidi called on everyone to restrain from making any statements regarding the issue in order to avoid escalation of the situation.
The David Gareji Monasteries and Hermitage, located in Eastern Georgia on the semi-desert Iori plateau, dates back to the 6th-century and is comprised of 22 rock-hewn monasteries and more than 5,000 sanctuaries and cave-cells.
Today the cave complex serves as one of Georgia's top cultural tourism destination.
Part of the David Gareji complex is located on the territory of neighboring Azerbaijan and has become subject to a border dispute between the two countries. While all the structures were historically located in Georgia, changing borders, particularly in Soviet times, means that one site, Bertubani, is in Azerbaijan, while two monasteries lie between Georgia and Azerbaijan.
