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Georgiaâ€™s Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze: â€œAzerbaijan says that only religious figures and frontier guards would be allowed to the monasteryâ€™s area Udabnoâ€

16 May 2012 12:21 (UTC +04:00)

Tbilisi. Nizami Mammadzadeh â€“ APA. Georgiaâ€™s Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze issued statement on David Gareji monastery. APAâ€™s Georgian bureau reports that in her briefing, Kalandadze said that her statement about the monastery was distorted by some newspapers. She called it a political speculation.

â€œGeorgian and Azerbaijani intergovernmental commissions continue the process of delimitation of the state borders. Both commissions have coordinated 66% delimitation of borders up to now. 2 percent - the territory of David Gareji monastery remained uncoordinated. This territory has been under Azerbaijanâ€™s control in the administrative division starting with the soviet period. Another part of the monastery is Georgian territoryâ€.

According to Kalandadze, 10 days ago Azerbaijani frontier guards said that only religious figures and frontier guards would be allowed to the monasteryâ€™s area Udabno: â€œNow all efforts are directed toward ensuring the free movement of visitors of the monastery. Of course, the Georgian side relies on national interests during the negotiationsâ€.

Kalandadze confirms that the issue of David Gareji monastery has never been raised in Georgia-Azerbaijan relations and it was not on agenda today: â€œThis monastery is Georgiaâ€™s historical monument. As the issue of visitors, I am sure that this problem will be solved till the end of delimitation of state borders in a spirit of traditional kind neighborhood and friendship between the two countries.â€