Turkish churches and Georgian mosques – 2

by Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for VK

Georgia and Turkey have reached an agreement to restore historic and cultural monuments. After years of complicated negotiations, Georgian Culture Minister Nika Rurua and his Turkish counterpart Ertulur Gunai reached a consensus on rehabilitation of Christian churches in the east of Turkey and mosques in Georgia’s south, in particular, the ones located in Adjara.

Initially, they planned to restore four churches in Turkey: Oshki, Ishkhani, Khantsda and three mosques destroyed in Georgia during the Soviet period. The talks turned into an intense discussion.

The Georgian public and clergy have spoken out against reconstruction of mosques. The arguments went into xenophobic and chauvinist statements at some points. The intrinsic complicity was that the old mosque in Aziziye (Batumi) was replaced by a different building.

Nonetheless, Ankara and Tbilisi reached an agreement that Georgian and Turkish specialists will reconstruct the Ahmediye Mosque in Akhaltsikh and rebuild the Aziziye Mosque at first. Turkey will invite Georgian specialists for joint renovation of Oshki and Ishkhani.

The Akhaltsikh Mosque of Ahmediye was built by local ruler Ahmed Pasha in 1749. Russians and Georgian militia captured the fortress of Akhaltsikh, rebuilding it into a church. The mosque is now a history museum. It has an exhibition of epigraphy.

The Batumi Cathedral Mosque of Aziziye was built by the mother of Sultan Aziz Walid Hanum in 1868. It was burnt down and destroyed in the 1930s. The Square of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the first Georgian President, was built in the area. It is not known where a new mosque would appear.

The Ishkhani Church was built on the ruins of an older church by Saba, an apprentice of Grigol Khantsdeli, an enlightener of the 9th century. The apprentice became a bishop later. Oshki is considered an architectural pearl of the Middle Ages and is related to King Tao-Klarjeti, David III Kuropalates.

Georgy Otkhmezuri, a PhD in History, has confidence that the Georgian-Turkish deal will benefit both sides and is advantageous for preservation and restoration of historic monuments: "The churches’ domes had collapsed. Time was working against them. For our part, we need to make advances to Turkey and take concerns over historic mosques into account. Especially when Georgia is inhabited by not only Christians but Muslims as well, and no one has the right to forbid them to build mosques. Meanwhile, Oshki and Ishkhani are not just churches, they are important factors of our national identity. Any nation would be proud of such cultural monuments," the academic believes.

The agreement signed by Ankara and Tbilisi is considered a rule of thumb by the Georgian authorities (mainly President Mikheil Saakashvili), because the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church was absolutely opposed to striking such deal and was even condemning the government for violating the “concordat” reached between the church and the government in 2002. But the sides call it a historic compromise and a step towards overcoming historic grievances and controversies.