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Monastery Divides Georgia and Azerbaijan
[05:02 pm] 07 April, 2007
Suggestions that cave monastery could be shared provoke opposition in
Georgia By Idrak Abbasov in Keshish Dagh and David Akhvlediani in
Tbilisi (CRS No. 385 29-Mar-07)
Georgia and Azerbaijan, strategic allies on many issues, have failed
to reach an agreement on the status of a monastery that lies on their
common border.
The spectacular cave monastery known by Georgians as David Gareji and
Azerbaijanis as Keshish Dagh is an important religious centre and
cultural monument for Georgians. Azerbaijanis regard it as part of
their cultural heritage, and also say it lies on strategic high
ground.
The current border runs through the monastery grounds, with the
majority of the churches on the Georgian side. There are border guards
on both sides.
The exact delimitation of the border was not an important issue in
Soviet times and has arisen only since both Georgia and Azerbaijan
became independent. The two sides have failed to reach agreement at a
number of recent meetings of a bilateral frontier demarcation
commission. The commission made no public announcement after its most
recent meeting this month, although official sources said a plan was
under discussion for the state frontier to remain where it is, while
both sides would be free to use the monastery as a tourist centre.
`All the religious sites should remain in David Gareji, but
tourists from both Georgia and Azerbaijan go there, and it will be
good if the numbers grow,' said Georgian culture minister Georgi
Gabashvili. `Everyone should have the chance to see the monastery
and I don't understand what the problem could be.'
The monastery is situated in southern Georgia, 565 kilometres from the
Azerbaijani capital Baku and 60 km from the Georgian capital
Tbilisi. It dates back to the sixth century and is spread over 25
kilometres of arid landscape, with hundreds of buildings and churches
built into rocks and cliffs, many of them still inhabited by monks.
On the Azerbaijani side, the landscape is completely deserted for 15
km between the Boyuk Kesik border checkpoint and the monastery.
The empty territory is used as pastureland, and all along the road
this IWPR correspondent met shepherds and their dogs with flocks of
sheep.
`In summer we go to Keshish Dagh to relax, and the Georgians go to
pray,' said 61-year-old Ahmed Salimov from the village of Boyuk
Kesik.
There are Azerbaijani border posts at the foot of the hill where the
monastery is located as well as at the top. This correspondent was
told he needed special permission to visit the monastery, meaning it
was only possible to reach it from the Georgian side.
`This is a strategic location,' an Azerbaijani officer told
IWPR. `It's true we are on friendly terms with Georgia, but no
country would give up strategic heights like these to another
state.'
In recent years, Azerbaijan and Georgia have cooperated closely on
prestigious projects such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. The
disagreement over the monastery is therefore an embarrassment to both
sides.
Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili told journalists that it was
not right to say there was a `dispute' over David
Gareji. `It's not a dispute,' he said. `We have a
fraternal relationship with our friends have and we hope that we can
settle this issue quickly.'
However, officials on both sides are digging in their heels - while
repeating that bilateral relations are friendly.
Azerbaijani deputy foreign minister Halaf Halafov said, `We should
not make a problem out of this. Everyone knows that the greater part
of the complex lies on Azerbaijani territory, and we will solve this
problem peacefully with the Georgians.'
The head of Georgia's border police Badri Bitsadze said his country
`will not give up a centimetre' of the monastery site.'
Georgian deputy foreign minister Giorgi Manjgaladze, who chairs a
commission on border demilitarisation and demarcation, said that
because Georgia attached such cultural and religious importance to
David Gareji, his government was ready to offer Azerbaijan other
territory in exchange for the area under dispute.
`We are interested in a possible exchange of territory,' he told
IWPR. `We have made this position known to our Azerbaijani
colleagues.' Manjgaladze said 95 per cent of the monastery grounds
lie inside Georgian territory.
Baku is not keen on the proposed land swap. An Azerbaijani border
guard official who wished to remain anonymous said, `This is the
only strategically important spot on high ground in the surrounding
area, and it is not in Azerbaijan's interests to give it up in
exchange for other territories.'
Inside Georgia, official suggestions that the territory of David
Gareji could be a shared tourist zone have sparked indignation from
the Georgian public, which is 85 per cent Christian, and from the
Orthodox church.
Patriarch Ilya II said the monastery was a holy shrine that should lie
entirely on Georgian soil.
Members of the Kartuli Dasi party and the non-government Union of
Orthodox Parents of Georgia held two protest demonstrations this
month, one outside the Azerbaijani embassy and one outside the
Georgian foreign ministry.
`It looks as though our leaders are prepared to give Azerbaijan
absolutely anything, including holy shrines, in exchange for energy
resources' said one protestor, Lasha Zedgenidze.
Georgians point out that some of the frescoes dating back to the
eighth century on the walls of the rockface churches depict kings and
queens of Georgia.
However, some Azerbaijani historians claim that the monastery actually
belongs to the Caucasian Albanian culture - an early medieval
Christian civilisation in what is now Azerbaijan.
`The monastery was inside Georgia only in the 12th century,'
said Azerbaijani journalist and historian Ismail Umudlu, who has
studied the monastery. `Both before and after this period, the area
was part of a state to which Azerbaijan is a successor.'
Georgian art historian Dmitry Tumanishvili dismissed this argument,
saying that the churches were full of evidence of Georgian history,
and there were no traces of Caucasian Albanian heritage there.
`David Gareji is covered in the work of Georgian masters; there are
Georgian inscriptions everywhere dating back to the sixth century,'
he said. `There are no traces of another culture there. After that,
I don't think you need any further proof.'
Visitors to the monastery play down the quarrel, saying that border
guards on both sides allow them to wander freely through its
spectacular cave landscape.
`I visit this unique place very often and always try to show it to
my friends when they visit Georgia,' said Khatuna Jangirashvili who
lives in Tbilisi. `It's absolutely no problem to cross into
Azerbaijan. It's just that the Azerbaijani border guards don't
like us photographing their frontier posts. There are no other
problems.'
Idrak Abbasov is a correspondent for the Ayna/Zerkalo newspaper in
Baku. David Akhvlediani is a correspondent for Rezonansi newspaper in
Tbilisi. This collaboration was done under IWPR's new Cross
Caucasus Journalism Network project.
Institute for War and Peace Reporting's Caucasus Reporting Service
Monastery Divides Georgia and Azerbaijan
[05:02 pm] 07 April, 2007
Suggestions that cave monastery could be shared provoke opposition in
Georgia By Idrak Abbasov in Keshish Dagh and David Akhvlediani in
Tbilisi (CRS No. 385 29-Mar-07)
Georgia and Azerbaijan, strategic allies on many issues, have failed
to reach an agreement on the status of a monastery that lies on their
common border.
The spectacular cave monastery known by Georgians as David Gareji and
Azerbaijanis as Keshish Dagh is an important religious centre and
cultural monument for Georgians. Azerbaijanis regard it as part of
their cultural heritage, and also say it lies on strategic high
ground.
The current border runs through the monastery grounds, with the
majority of the churches on the Georgian side. There are border guards
on both sides.
The exact delimitation of the border was not an important issue in
Soviet times and has arisen only since both Georgia and Azerbaijan
became independent. The two sides have failed to reach agreement at a
number of recent meetings of a bilateral frontier demarcation
commission. The commission made no public announcement after its most
recent meeting this month, although official sources said a plan was
under discussion for the state frontier to remain where it is, while
both sides would be free to use the monastery as a tourist centre.
`All the religious sites should remain in David Gareji, but
tourists from both Georgia and Azerbaijan go there, and it will be
good if the numbers grow,' said Georgian culture minister Georgi
Gabashvili. `Everyone should have the chance to see the monastery
and I don't understand what the problem could be.'
The monastery is situated in southern Georgia, 565 kilometres from the
Azerbaijani capital Baku and 60 km from the Georgian capital
Tbilisi. It dates back to the sixth century and is spread over 25
kilometres of arid landscape, with hundreds of buildings and churches
built into rocks and cliffs, many of them still inhabited by monks.
On the Azerbaijani side, the landscape is completely deserted for 15
km between the Boyuk Kesik border checkpoint and the monastery.
The empty territory is used as pastureland, and all along the road
this IWPR correspondent met shepherds and their dogs with flocks of
sheep.
`In summer we go to Keshish Dagh to relax, and the Georgians go to
pray,' said 61-year-old Ahmed Salimov from the village of Boyuk
Kesik.
There are Azerbaijani border posts at the foot of the hill where the
monastery is located as well as at the top. This correspondent was
told he needed special permission to visit the monastery, meaning it
was only possible to reach it from the Georgian side.
`This is a strategic location,' an Azerbaijani officer told
IWPR. `It's true we are on friendly terms with Georgia, but no
country would give up strategic heights like these to another
state.'
In recent years, Azerbaijan and Georgia have cooperated closely on
prestigious projects such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. The
disagreement over the monastery is therefore an embarrassment to both
sides.
Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili told journalists that it was
not right to say there was a `dispute' over David
Gareji. `It's not a dispute,' he said. `We have a
fraternal relationship with our friends have and we hope that we can
settle this issue quickly.'
However, officials on both sides are digging in their heels - while
repeating that bilateral relations are friendly.
Azerbaijani deputy foreign minister Halaf Halafov said, `We should
not make a problem out of this. Everyone knows that the greater part
of the complex lies on Azerbaijani territory, and we will solve this
problem peacefully with the Georgians.'
The head of Georgia's border police Badri Bitsadze said his country
`will not give up a centimetre' of the monastery site.'
Georgian deputy foreign minister Giorgi Manjgaladze, who chairs a
commission on border demilitarisation and demarcation, said that
because Georgia attached such cultural and religious importance to
David Gareji, his government was ready to offer Azerbaijan other
territory in exchange for the area under dispute.
`We are interested in a possible exchange of territory,' he told
IWPR. `We have made this position known to our Azerbaijani
colleagues.' Manjgaladze said 95 per cent of the monastery grounds
lie inside Georgian territory.
Baku is not keen on the proposed land swap. An Azerbaijani border
guard official who wished to remain anonymous said, `This is the
only strategically important spot on high ground in the surrounding
area, and it is not in Azerbaijan's interests to give it up in
exchange for other territories.'
Inside Georgia, official suggestions that the territory of David
Gareji could be a shared tourist zone have sparked indignation from
the Georgian public, which is 85 per cent Christian, and from the
Orthodox church.
Patriarch Ilya II said the monastery was a holy shrine that should lie
entirely on Georgian soil.
Members of the Kartuli Dasi party and the non-government Union of
Orthodox Parents of Georgia held two protest demonstrations this
month, one outside the Azerbaijani embassy and one outside the
Georgian foreign ministry.
`It looks as though our leaders are prepared to give Azerbaijan
absolutely anything, including holy shrines, in exchange for energy
resources' said one protestor, Lasha Zedgenidze.
Georgians point out that some of the frescoes dating back to the
eighth century on the walls of the rockface churches depict kings and
queens of Georgia.
However, some Azerbaijani historians claim that the monastery actually
belongs to the Caucasian Albanian culture - an early medieval
Christian civilisation in what is now Azerbaijan.
`The monastery was inside Georgia only in the 12th century,'
said Azerbaijani journalist and historian Ismail Umudlu, who has
studied the monastery. `Both before and after this period, the area
was part of a state to which Azerbaijan is a successor.'
Georgian art historian Dmitry Tumanishvili dismissed this argument,
saying that the churches were full of evidence of Georgian history,
and there were no traces of Caucasian Albanian heritage there.
`David Gareji is covered in the work of Georgian masters; there are
Georgian inscriptions everywhere dating back to the sixth century,'
he said. `There are no traces of another culture there. After that,
I don't think you need any further proof.'
Visitors to the monastery play down the quarrel, saying that border
guards on both sides allow them to wander freely through its
spectacular cave landscape.
`I visit this unique place very often and always try to show it to
my friends when they visit Georgia,' said Khatuna Jangirashvili who
lives in Tbilisi. `It's absolutely no problem to cross into
Azerbaijan. It's just that the Azerbaijani border guards don't
like us photographing their frontier posts. There are no other
problems.'
Idrak Abbasov is a correspondent for the Ayna/Zerkalo newspaper in
Baku. David Akhvlediani is a correspondent for Rezonansi newspaper in
Tbilisi. This collaboration was done under IWPR's new Cross
Caucasus Journalism Network project.
Institute for War and Peace Reporting's Caucasus Reporting Service