Georgia stunned by request to recognize hundreds of its churches as Armenia's
TBILISI. Jan 19 (Interfax) - Tbilisi has expressed surprise at the reports that the Eparchy of the Armenian Church in Georgia had asked the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to recognize 450 churches located in Georgia as Armenia's.
"Deciding the religious affiliation of any particular church is not the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection. We treat the ancient structures as monuments of architecture and look after them regardless of their religious affiliation," Georgia's Culture Minister Mikhail Giorgadze told reporters last Sunday.
Commenting on the information released to journalists, Prof. Bondo Arveladze, an expert on Armenia, said that Armenia's claims were completely baseless.
"I am aware about this demand by the Armenian Eparchy to have 450 churches in Georgia handed over [to them] but these claims are completely baseless and stunning. We do not know the whole list, but similar Armenian claims have been considered before and in each case they were not scientifically confirmed," Arveladze said.