EXPANSION ACCORDING TO PLAN

Tension in Georgian-Armenian relations has been ratcheted up once more, but this time not by Armenian territorial claims on the Georgian region of Javakheti. Aware of its explosive nature, official Yerevan and Tbilisi are trying to work round the topic in inter-governmental dialogue. The main cause of the newly heightened tension is the Armenians' desire to take over cultural treasures and holy sites of Georgia. 

What price "brotherly love"?

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan clearly demonstrated the price of "brotherly love" when, after the August war between Georgia and Russia, he announced his country's readiness to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, should the Karabakh conflict be resolved in the Armenians' favour and Russia recognize the independence of the so-called "NKR". Not even Sargsyan's recent visit to Tbilisi could gloss over the difficulties in relations between Armenia and Georgia. It was all pretty clear anyway - the Armenian leader had to "fraternize" with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili only to protect his country from a possible worsening of the isolation into which Sargsyan and his comrades-in-arms have led the Armenian people. Tbilisi is the only bridge linking Yerevan to Moscow and Europe. However, even the prospect of damaging relations with Georgia does not stop the Armenians indulging in their favourite activity, taking over someone else's heritage. 

Alongside their incessant claims on Javakheti, the Armenians have already cast threatening glances at Georgia's cultural treasures, unleashing a "temple war" for ownership of four Tbilisi churches, including the Church of the Holy Mother of God.  It all began six months ago when a priest of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Tariel Sikinchelashvili, put up a metal fence at the Church of the Holy Mother of God which used "symbols peculiar to the Georgian Orthodox Church".  The Georgians think that this 15th century church was initially a Georgian church and became Armenian much later. It's hard not to agree with the Georgian side, bearing in mind that this is exactly the way in which many Albanian churches became Armenian, both in Azerbaijan and in Armenia itself. Meanwhile, the eparchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia described the actions of Georgian clerics as the "latest attempt deliberately to seize an Armenian church". The Armenians are working hard to promote the idea that, after the declaration of Georgia's independence, the national church laid claim to Armenian churches. Cleverly keeping out of polemics on the original affiliation of several Tbilisi churches, the Armenians are putting forward the argument that they were allegedly given to the Armenians by the Russian imperial authorities in the 19th century and then confiscated in the Soviet period. However, the historical argument, as is often the case, has been overtaken by political deliberations. When they found that Fr Tariel was not acting solely on his own initiative but with the direct approval of the Tbilisi mayor's office, the Armenians began to talk about a policy of discrimination conducted by the Tbilisi authorities. The perennial Armenian syndrome of great suffering and hurt caused by one and all came into play. Armenia's political circles sprung into action and began to make threatening reminders to Georgia about "how the struggle for Karabakh began". At the end of May this year at a seminar in Yerevan on "Georgia's Anti-Armenian Policy", utterly mendacious comments were made that "the struggle of the Armenians of Karabakh" began because "Azerbaijan at that time forbade them to speak in Armenian". This could be credible, if one did not know that Armenian schools made up 70 per cent of educational institutions in the town of Stepanakert alone (its historical name is Xankandi, meaning "Khan's Village"), the centre of the Nagornyy Karabakh Autonomous Region of the Azerbaijan SSR. This is relevant. But the Armenian side's blasphemous statements, which are far removed from reality and historical truth, share a logical thread with claims by Armenian activists that "the Georgians are stealing and taking over our cultural heritage as much as they can". So now there can already be no doubt that Armenia's claims on Georgia have moved up a notch.

Threat of "unpredictable consequences"

A little more than a month ago, the Armenian eparchy made a new statement - this time "in the name of the 400,000 Armenians living in Georgia". "We regret to say that discrimination on religious grounds de facto exists in Georgia," the statement says and calls on Georgia's state structures "to put an end to the lawlessness". Otherwise, the Armenian clerics warn, "the turn of events may lead to unpredictable consequences". One has only to think of the fate of Karabakh to guess what these consequences might be. 

To confirm their threats, the Armenians began a broad international campaign. The chairman of the Armenian parliamentary commission for science, education, culture, youth and sport, Armen Ashotyan, said in a meeting with diplomats accredited in Armenia: "We in Armenia respect the culture of Georgia and expect the same attitude to be displayed towards Armenian culture in Tbilisi and the whole of Georgia." The Georgian ambassador in Armenia was then invited to the Foreign Ministry to provide an explanation about the Norashen church in Tbilisi. Armenian Premier Tigran Sargsyan reported straight after this that the Armenian embassy in Tbilisi would present a note of protest to the Georgian authorities. The flames were fanned by petitions from Georgia's Armenian population, raised in order to draw the attention of the world public to the fact that they are suffering "discrimination". Representatives of the Armenian community in Georgia say, "We demand decisive action to stop the deliberate, barbaric destruction in Georgia of the historical and cultural heritage of our people and an end to the infringement of the constitutional rights of citizens of Georgia who are ethnic Armenians." The Armenians' demands include a stop to encroachment on "Armenian churches", their "return to the bosom" of the Armenian Apostolic Church and "that those who directly and indirectly inflamed inter-denominational and inter-ethnic hostility between the fraternal Armenian and Georgian peoples be held to account". 

The Georgian side is, of course, of a different opinion. Presumably appreciating the danger, it is trying to counteract the Armenian plans, which even Georgia's classic authors talked about when they warned their descendants of what was to be expected from their neighbours who share their faith. 

"Yesterday's events" a surprise

When responding to the accusations from Armenian priests and parishioners, the Georgian government denies that the rights of any national minority in the country are violated, while what is happening in Norashen church is down to restoration work. The position of the Georgian Orthodox Church is that all the cultural monuments on Georgian territory, whatever the ethnic origin of their creators, are the cultural heritage and property of Georgia. The Georgian position, as the head of the Georgian Patriarchate's centre for inter-religious links, Lela Jejelava explains, is that if Norashen is recognized as a church of Armenian origin, juridical mechanisms must come into play for it to be declared Armenian property. 

The latter is unacceptable for the Georgians, of course. At the end of November, the sides did reach agreement to set up a joint commission with the participation of clerics and representatives of academia to get to the bottom of the contentious issue. The work carried out by Fr Tariel in the yard of the Church of the Holy Mother of God has been temporarily suspended. Under the agreement, a moratorium is imposed on discussion of the issue in both Armenia and Georgia until the commission determines the final affiliation of the church. 

However, it is unlikely that this moratorium will be a bar to Armenians who consider whatever they really want to be theirs. Some areas and cultural monuments of Georgia look to have entered the sphere of interests of Armenians. And the Georgians will probably have to resort to many moratoriums in an attempt to check the insatiable appetite of their neighbours. 

It is indicative that straight after the agreement, the supreme spiritual council of the Armenian Apostolic Church, despite the moratorium, for some reason returned to discussing the situation of their eparchy in Georgia. Expressing their "deep concern at encroachment upon Armenian churches and the Georgian Armenian eparchy", the council declared that it "censures steps and actions unworthy of the spirit of Christianity and the friendship of fraternal peoples". Moreover, the Armenian Church called on its "sons" "to be united with the Armenians of Georgia in their efforts and struggle to retain Armenian churches and holy places". Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II warned separately that the Armenian Church would continue to keep the question at the centre of international attention. 

The statement and call from Echmiadzin (residence of the catholicos) perplexed the Georgian side, who did not seem fully aware (unlike the Azerbaijanis, say) of the Armenians' favourite practice of breaking tomorrow agreements that were reached today. The day after the Armenian Church's demarche, Lela Jedjelava said "yesterday's events in Yerevan amazed us. Maybe the information reached the Armenian embassy too late."

 One can only surmise about the "delay" in information reaching the usually up-to-the-minute Armenian embassy. But it can be said with certainty that Armenian policy towards Georgia is quite rapidly and deliberately acquiring the spirit of its traditional expansionism and continuing to inflame inter-ethnic conflict in the South Caucasus. The experience of the Karabakh war shows that the Armenians move quite rapidly from hypothetical ideas and complaints about the socio-economic plight of their fellow Armenians living in clusters in neighbouring countries and their cultural, religious, linguistic and other discrimination, to using crude force to achieve their predatory goals. Let us hope that this cup will pass Georgia by.