World Azerbaijanis' Congress co-chair comments on placing crosses in Azerbaijani villages in Georgia

The congress is informed about the placement of crosses in Azerbaijani villages. The leadership of the congress visited these villages and appealed to relevant organizations. However, first of all, Azerbaijani citizens of Georgia must demand from the Georgian president and government the solution of the problem. They also can appeal to the European Court of Human Rights and international organizations where Georgia holds membership, Rustamkhanli said.

The studies revealed that Georgian Patriarch's local agency placed crosses with length of 7-10 m in the Quchulu and Kapanakchi villages of the Kvemo-Kartli (Borchali) regions which are mainly populated by Azerbaijanis.  

Georgian Patriarch Ilia II called on his colleagues to be careful with placing crosses in areas densely populated by Muslims, Head of the Inter-religious Relations Center under the Georgian Patriarch Lela Jejelava said earlier.

Georgia has a tradition to place crosses everywhere. Local Eparchy did not want to offend Azerbaijanis residents of the Bolnisi region while placing crosses. Cross not only symbol of the Christianity, but also a symbol of faith and love, Jejelava said.

The Azerbaijani community is increasingly concerned with growing number of crosses, leader of the Qayrat National Movement of the Georgian Azerbaijanis Alibala Asgarov said.

According to unofficial reports, about 500,000 Azerbaijanis live in the Kvemo-Kartli (Borchali) region.

Rustamkhanli said resolution of the problem depends on the will of Georgian Azerbaijanis. They should pull out some of crosses and should protest against changed names. Though Azerbaijan is a powerful country, it can not interfere with internal affairs of the neighboring country.

Georgian Azerbaijanis should demand from authorities to grant regional language status to Azerbaijani language. Azerbaijanis in some regions of Georgia receive education in Azerbaijani and they can hold correspondence in Azerbaijani as well, Rustamkhanli added.

/Trend News/