Activists create a human chain around the disputed territory at the David Gareja monastery
By Levan Abramishvili
Monday, May 6
On May 5th, activists created a human chain around the disputed territory at the David Gareja monastery. On April 23, the Azerbaijani border guards prevented clerics and tourists from entering the site for a few days. Since then, the number of Azerbaijani guards was significantly increased at the border.
According to the protesters, they are protesting to send a message to neighboring Azerbaijan that Davit Gareja is a part of Georgia.
The information about the situation at the border was first voiced by Archimandrite Kirion (Oniani). The road to the monastery was opened the day before the Easter (April 28), but there hasn’t been a permanent solution to the problem at the border.
The human chain was created in protest of the recent developments around the border area. Protesters gathered from the neighboring villages, as well as Tbilisi to create a human chain.
The anti-occupation movement Strength in Unity was present at the protest. The leader of the movement, Davit Katsarava, stressed the need for peaceful patrolling at the border. In a talk with 1TV, Katsarava said: “it’s necessary to start peaceful patrolling, for example, three or four times a week, because there’s no time for relaxing. …they are apparently inclined to take this territory from us, but we are certainly not going to give it up, this should be understood by our government and the Azerbaijani government as well.”
Azeri border guards, who are deployed at the territory observed the situation on a number of sections of the path to the monastery complex. Georgian border guards were also present and controlled the movement of the protesters.
The President Salome Zourabichvili visited the David Gareja monastery last month, while she called for an urgent restoration of the complex, she also noted that the matter of the border was to be “urgently resolved”.
It was after the visit of the President that the situation at the border escalated and the guards closed down the paths. Archimandrite Kirion, as well as the number of politicians, blamed Zourabichvili for the incident.
The President answered to the allegations in an interview with the Voice of America:
“I’m very surprised that people who talk about statehood, patriotism and historical awareness also think that the visit of the president at the Davit Gareja is a provocative act. Does this mean that the president shouldn’t visit the places that we claim to be our territories?”
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, independent Georgia only has an agreement on delimitation and demarcation of the borders with Turkey. A commission of delimitation and demarcation of the borders with Azerbaijan has been working since 1996, but the issue of David Gareja remains unresolved.
David Gareja is a rock-hewn Georgian Orthodox monastery complex located in the Kakheti region of Eastern Georgia.
