To hang to the churches toward Georgian territory, Tbilisi has suggested giving Azerbaijan an as yet in public unspecified point regarding Georgian home nearby the Azerbaijani border
An unresolved edging ranging from Georgia and you will Azerbaijan possess put less than question among the Southern area Caucasus’s most significant cultural and spiritual attractions, the new gothic David-Gareja monastery state-of-the-art, located in Georgia and you will Azerbaijan.
Set in semi-desert particular 70 kilometers southeast from Tbilisi along the Georgian border having Azerbaijan and you can in this Azerbaijan correct, the fresh complex, that contains a wealthy collection of cavern frescoes, could have been an internet site . for dispute and for contemplation, since build first started regarding sixth century.
A lot more monasteries, particular almost unreachable and you can largely wrecked, are also to your Georgian region. Azerbaijan has the monastery out-of Bertubani, which features frescoes of one’s legendary 12th-13th 100 years Georgian Queen Tamara and her man, Giorgi IV.
However, which will be control the new David-Gareja monastery? If Soviet Connection outlined the boundaries amongst the upcoming Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and you may Georgia, the fresh new monastery complex is separated in two. The fresh new border between them now separate regions have stayed unchanged since 1991. An element of the border experiences the top of the fresh 813-meter-highest Udabno ridge (understood when you look at the Azerbaijan because Keshishdag), which ports cavern monasteries towards their better and now have into the northern (Georgian-controlled) and you will southern area (Azerbaijani-controlled) hills.
The latest monastery cutting-edge, which has encountered symptoms by the Tamerlane and you can Shah Abbas the exact same, retains proper advantages for Azerbaijan and you may Georgia. In the Udabno ridge, each other Azerbaijani and Georgian territory can be easily monitored. «On army point of view, which status have advantages for countries,» said Uzeir Jafarov, a different Azerbaijani army pro in the Baku and you may a retired colonel. «Commercially, when it comes to army argument, the medial side and therefore features command over these types of levels becomes a beneficial big advantage.»
Border conversations, lingering since the 1991, recently reentered the news when Zviad Dzidziguri, an effective Georgian member of parliament to the opposition Conventional Party, and chairman of Popular Side faction, said you to Azerbaijan got went its border with Georgia in order that one of the complex’s monasteries, Chichkhituri, is actually today contained in this Azerbaijani area, getting at stake the remainder monasteries under Georgian control.
The fresh Georgian international ministry has actually refuted the brand new declaration. In a job interview with EurasiaNet, a leading-peak Azerbaijani County Edging Manage Service authoritative, whom requested to remain private, as well as stated that Azerbaijan got never went the edging. Yet, nonetheless, the fresh debate goes on.
The best-identified an element of the advanced, the fresh new Udabno cave monastery, that have frescoes relationships approximately on eighth into 13th centuries, as well as the monastery head office at Lavra, are observed within this Georgia
«Most of the we have to carry out is to obtain a familiar words with these Azerbaijani colleagues,» Georgian Deputy Overseas Minister Giorgi Manigaladze, whom oversees the official Payment on the Edging Delimitation and you can Demarcation, told journalists during the Tbilisi to the Oct 31.
«There is absolutely no place to have territorial exchange [with Georgia]. There are no deals more this dilemma,» Deputy International Minister Khalaf Khalafov, co-president of one’s intergovernmental percentage for the border delimitation having Georgia, told you on a press briefing when you look at the Baku towards November 2. Azerbaijani officials declare that prior to now three-years Georgia features double considering sections of Georgian territory in return for recognition out-of the present day border division of David-Gareja monastery, but one Baku has actually denied the fresh even offers both minutes.
«Which territory [Azerbaijan’s area of the monastery] have proper strengths getting Azerbaijan. And we also do not have intention of providing they in order to some body,» Garib Mammadov, chairman of your own Azerbaijani County Land and you can Cartography Panel, said into the a job interview into Azerbaijani daily paper Mirror. «It is a proper neglect. The whole Southern Caucasus is monitored out of this neglect really better. Why must we provide it with out?»