Priest Meone Yeprim: “Fakhrali is an ancient Georgian village, we will use this mosque as a church”
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16 Sep 2009 18:28 ]
Georgia. Nizami Mammadzadeh – APA. The priests, who came to Fakhrali village of Bolnisi region after the incident concerning the mosque, were not allowed to enter the yard of the mosque, APA’s Georgia bureau reports.
12 priests came this morning again and demanded to stop restoration of the mosque in Fakhrali. Head of Bolnisi executive power Iosif Loliashvili came to Fakhrali and took ten priests with him to the center of the region. Loliashvili told the village residents that the continuation of the construction of the mosque will be discussed in a week. Priest Meone Yeprim told Fakhrali residents that it is an ancient Georgian village.
“Fakhrali is an ancient Georgian village, we will use this mosque as a church,” they said.
The residents said some of the priests stayed near the mosque overnight. There are two priests and a policeman in the village. They stayed in the village to prevent the restoration of the mosque.
The restoration of the mosque founded in Fakhrali in 1905 began some months ago. Deputy Governor of Kvemo-Kartli Huseyn Yusifov and deputy head of Bolnisi executive power Ramin Asadov and SOCAR manager in Kvemo-Kartli Arif Aliyev participated in the event held on this occasion in April. Deputy Governor of Kvemo-Kartli said Georgian President himself gave consent to the restoration of the mosque. Yusifov told the village residents that the president will visit the mosque after the restoration.