NG: While Kobakhidze speaks of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Georgian-Azerbaijani relations are becoming strained
The escalation of tensions between Baku and Tbilisi may not be accidental. David Kartvelishvili, a political scientist and member of the Georgian “People’s Power” party, discussed this with ”Nezavisimaya Gazeta”.
“While Kobakhidze was speaking from the UN General Assembly podium about long-awaited peace in the South Caucasus—emphasizing, among other things, the improvement of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan—we received a very harsh statement from Baku. The trigger was the Georgian Orthodox Church’s decision to name one of its churches using Georgian rather than Azerbaijani place names. Yet, if one were to start down that path, it would turn out that there are many villages in Georgia with Azerbaijani names that would also need to be renamed,” the expert said.
According to Kartvelishvili, such scandals are instigated by forces that have no interest in peace in the South Caucasus. These forces also oppose the Middle Corridor and the energy cable intended to connect Georgia with Europe. Nevertheless, Kartvelishvili believes that the top leadership of both Georgia and Azerbaijan will not allow another conflict to flare up in the South Caucasus.
It is worth noting that Azerbaijani authorities advised Georgian clergy “not to follow in the footsteps of their Armenian counterparts.” This followed a dispute over a 19th-century church that Baku considers Albanian, while Tbilisi regards it as Georgian. However, Georgian authorities do not view the situation as a conflict or a major problem. The Patriarchate of the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) has expressed deep concern regarding excavation work at the Kurmukhi St. George Church, located in Azerbaijan. Clergy members stated that the construction and research activities are being conducted unilaterally and called on official Tbilisi to intervene immediately.
The GOC regards the church as a vital monument of Georgia’s historical and spiritual heritage. At the same time, the Church emphasized that it had received no information about the work from Azerbaijani state agencies. They urged the relevant Georgian authorities to urgently request official data from their neighbors and to secure the participation of Georgian experts and clergy in the process.
