People's Party of Georgia urges Turkey to amend agreement on mosques constructionMarch 20, 2011 - 16:34 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The People's Party of Georgia sent a letter to the Turkish Ambassador, demanding amendment of the provision on mosques construction. "We are gladdened by the successes of Turkey - our neighbor and friendly country - in the establishment and strengthening of democracy based on traditional and national values of its people. Thus, our stance on the matter should be clearer for you. We would like to recall that the agreement signed between Georgia and Turkey has already caused a wave of protest in our country. We have not reached consensus on these matters. Due to it, the agreement may jeopardize the Georgian-Turkish relations; Georgia may face problems of religious nature. Hopefully, you will conceive the Georgian society's stance," reads the letter. Although the Georgian President does its utmost to "make friends" with Turkey, sacrificing not only the relations with Armenia, but also Georgia's national interests, construction of new mosques in Georgia cannot lead to any positive result. Saakashvili cannot but understand that the mosques will be followed by military bases, possible seizure of Ajaria and loss of sovereignty. And all this will be done with a tacit approval of the U.S. - the main sponsor of the Georgian President. Yet, there is a circumstance, which can indeed hamper implementation of the Turkish plan -Christianity is rather strong in Georgia, and the words of Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II often sound more influential than those of the President. Meanwhile, none of the Christian patriarchs would allow constructing new mosques and strengthening Islam. However, there are such precedents in the Georgian history - Georgian rulers easily adopted Islam in previous centuries, if it helped them to come to power. Top stories As a result of floods in Armenia’s northern Lori and Tavush provinces, 17 bridges, including five large ones, have collapsed. David Vardanyan is the son of former Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan who who is currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has met with Stephan Schütz, Executive Partner at Gerkan, Marg and Partners. The number of state universities will be reduced from 23 to 8 by 2030, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan has said. Partner news Most popular in the section | Aliyev travels to Turkey at Erdogan's invitation On June 10, Azerbaijani President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev will leave for Turkey on a working visit. CSTO budget “to be adjusted due to Yerevan’s non-payment of contributions” The CSTO budget for the current year requires adjustments due to the refusal of Yerevan to pay their share of contributions. Russia sends note of protest to Armenia over envoy’s trip to Ukraine’s Bucha Russia has sent a note of protest to Armenia over the visit of Vladimir Karapetyan and Tigran Ter-Margaryan to Bucha. Concept to complete Yerevan Cascade discussed at city hall A conceptual proposal to complete the Cascade complex in downtown Yerevan has been presented by Jean-Michel Wilmotte. |