Georgia Doesn’t Want to Create Any Problems, By Registering the Armenian Church

Georgia has a policy of tolerance toward all denominations and churches, said Georgia’s Deputy Prime Minister, State Minister for Euro-Atlantic Integration Giorgi Baramidze in an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun Radio).

“Is there at least one case when the Armenian church has had a problem in exercising its rights? Are there any problems? There’s never been any problems,” he said. 

According to Baramidze, in Georgia, there is no officially registered church or religion because there’s no need. There is only constitutional agreement between the State and the Georgian Orthodox Church, which delineates the rights and the state assumes responsibility for the return of property seized from the church during the Soviet period. “Other than this, we have no other registered church,” he said.

Asked to explain, the Georgian Deputy PM said registering churches would create enormous legal problems which they don’t need. “For what? If there’s a problem, we’re ready to solve it; if there’s no problem, why create one? We can’t understand that.”