Tbilisi Won’t Dare Go Against Georgian Church for Armenian Church

The attention by Georgia’s current leadership to the Armenian-populated Georgian region of Javakheti — the construction of costly roads, repairs to schools, an agreement with Armenia’s education ministry to provide textbooks, and so on — should be considered in the context of Tbilisi’s regional policy, said Dean at the Faculty of Humanities and Cultural Research at Ilia State (Chavchavadze) University Giga Zedania at the Caucasus-2010 international conference held in Yerevan today.

Choosing a course of European integration, Georgia is trying to improve the situation of national minorities and strengthen relations with other countries in the South Caucasus, said Zedania.

As for the status of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia, according to the professor, this issue is beyond the scope of the country’s political leadership.

“The authorities are willing to give status to not only the Armenian, but also Catholic and other churches and denominations. But Georgia’s political leadership will not enter into open conflict with such powerful institutions such as the Georgian Orthodox Church — the right to provide status to other churches is within its powers,” said Zedania.