Georgian patriarch assists in restoring Georgian churches in Turkey

The Georgian patriarch will assist in negotiations on restoring the
churches of Oshki and Otkhta in Turkey, the director of the Agency for
the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Nika Vacheishvili, told the
Kviris Palitra newspaper, Georgia Online reports.

Turkey proposes building one and renovating three mosques in Georgia
for the rehabilitation of four Georgian churches in Turkey.

Vacheishvili said that they have not received the final version of the
agreement from Turkey yet. The question of religious rituals in the
restored monasteries and mosques remains unresolved.

The official said that they need 15 million lari and 5 years for
restoration of the churches in Oshki and Otkhta. He says that Turkey
needs to put the monasteries under UNESCO protection.

Places of worship in Tao-Klardzheti, in Ishki and Otkhta, in Batumi,
will be restored on the former Lenin Square. A section of Batumi's
population is against the initiative, saying that if the mosque in
Batumi is restored then the churches in Turkey need to be re-opened as
well.