“The Georgian church cannot support an initiative that considers the creation of a transboundary territory between Georgia and Azerbaijan as a way of resolving the problem of Udabno and Chichkhituri monasteries”. Such statement was released by the Patriarchate of Georgia.

According to the statement, the issues of Udabno and Chichkhituri monasteries still remain unsolved.
“Naturally, everyone wants to find a way out of the situation. One of the attempts we have to consider is the idea recently put forward by the initiative group, which considers the creation of a transboundary area between Georgia and Azerbaijan as a way of resolving the problem of these monasteries.

Such a model could have been positively perceived in the case of historical, cultural, legal and cartographical ambiguity regarding the territorial belonging between states.

As for Udabno and Chichkhituri monasteries, we do not have any of the problems mentioned above. By offering this proposal, we are in fact neglecting the documents we obtain and questioning Georgia’s ownership of the territory. This is the reason why the Georgian church cannot support the initiative”, - reads the statement of the Patriarchate of Georgia.

They added that continue to wait patiently and hope that the status quo by July 15, 2019to be restored.

“We hope that the tradition of good neighborly relations between our nations will yield a positive result and peace will have no alternative”, - concluded the Patriarchate.