Who are Abkhazians trying to Deceive?

24/02/2011
Irakli Tskitishvili
Experts’ Club

The Georgian side is concerned about the state of the Orthodox Church in Ilori, in the Ochamchire district and is asking to save the cultural monument. This was discussed at the meeting in Gali on 22 February in the framework of Incident Prevention and Response Mechanisms, which is based on arrangements reached as a result of the Geneva talks.

At that meeting the Georgians side raised questions about the state of the Ilori Church and demanded that the Abkhazian side to let Georgian specialists assess the current state of this Georgian Orthodox-cultural monument.

According to information of the Georgian side, restoration works have been carried out in the church, resulting in the whitewashed walls. A dome that is not characteristic of Georgian church architecture was erected on the church and because of this the church has lost its original appearance.

But, head of the Abkhazian delegation at the talks Vyacheslav Chirikba said that the Georgian side has no right to raise questions about churches in Abkhazia.

“Head of the EU monitoring mission Hans Jorg Haber who was on an unofficial visit to Abkhazia and viewed the St. George Church in Ilori could see that the Georgian information is untrue “, – said Vyacheslav Chirikba. According to the source, on February 18th this church was also visited by the Council of Europe Special Representative Pierre Morel during his visit to Abkhazia.

And now let’s reveal Mr Chirikba’s lie. Claims made by the Georgian side were as follows: “Now it does not look like a Georgian church. It was whitewashed as the Russian church. Architectural details were also painted. And, most importantly, a dome was erected on top of it. The Ilori Church has never been with a dome. This is a normal one-nave church. And the dome is absolutely unnecessary. They need a dome to make the church look like Russian, not Georgian” – said head of the department of attribution of immovable monuments Giorgi Gagoshidze.

“Such churches have never had any domes. This is a dome that was mounted in accordance to the Russian style – a foreign body that was mechanically set on this beautiful structure to emphasize Russian influence” – said head of the Agency of Cultural Heritage of Georgia Nika Vacheishvili.

We do not know about the reaction of Mr. Pierre Morel mentioned by Chirikba, and whether he visited the Church at all or not, but we know the reaction of Mr. Hans Jorg Habber, head of the EU observer mission in Georgia (EUMM) with this regard.

He tinks that the restoration works in the church have not been conducted in accordance with the highest international standards. And as a non-specialist he got the impression that is that there was no deliberate Russification. Haber believes that head of the so-called Abkhazian Church Vissarion Aplia wants to keep the church as a place where believers gather and that he is trying to save it despite humidity. As a result, the dome was really erected. Haber mentiones that Aplia is often criticized. But he thought that the most important thing there was that the Georgian tombs were still in place. They were not destroyed or transferred to some other place. And that icons with inscriptions in the Georgian language are still inside the church.

However, Hans Jorg Haber suggests that if scholars and historians saw it maybe they would have come to different conclusions.”

On this basis it should be noted that Hans Jorg Haber did not hide the fact that he is a dilettante in this matter. Neither Hans Jorg Haber, nor Mr Morel, if he really visited the Ilori Church, can be aware of cultural and religious value of the Ilori church. Moreover, it is unlikely they can know the differences between the Russian and Georgian architecture, and understand the difference between Russian and Georgian church domes. Gentlemen from Europe can hardly understand what kind of damage has been done to the Georgian Orthodox Church by painting in the colours of Russian chicken coop. And if the reaction of Mr. Morel is not known to us, Mr Haber diplomatically, without offending Abkhazians, noted that he was a dilettante in this matter and that he could not assess the state of the church in terms of art. At that, Mr. Haber did not see intent in the Russification of the Georgian church, but the Georgian side has sufficient historical experience of relations with its aggressive neighbour to assert it.

So where is Mr Chirikba saw evidence that the Ilori church was not damaged or that Mr. Haber confirmed rightness of Abkhazia lies? Maybe it’s the fact that for those Europeans only this is important that the walls stand, the roof is there and the paint is fresh? Where is discrepancy in the Georgian information? That the walls are whitewashed in the Russian style? That the Russian dome has been installed? That the Ilori church is Georgian Orthodox church? Lies of the puppet regime surpass everything. But someday they must come to an end.

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