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Georgian Presidentâ€™s adviser Mubariz Garayev: â€œProtest of some individuals against mosque construction doesnâ€™t mean enmity between the religious confessionsâ€

18 September 2009 11:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Lachin Sultanova â€“ APA. â€œActions of individuals and separate members of the religious confessions donâ€™t mean enmity of religious confessionsâ€, adviser to the Georgian President Mubariz Garayev told APA. Expressing an opinion on the protest actions before the SOCAR-Georgia filling stations, Garayev said Georgian Constitution separated religion from the government. â€œGeorgia is a tolerant country in regard to all religious confessions in its territory. Representatives of all religions lived in Georgia throughout the centuries and there was no confrontation between them. Actions of separate persons and members of different religious confessions donâ€™t mean that they are enemiesâ€. Touching upon the protests against restoration of the mosque in Fakhrali village, Garayev said the mosque had an ancient history. â€œThe actions of some individual donâ€™t mean that all are against Islam. It doesnâ€™t need to direct such actions toward the religious confrontationâ€.

The priests, who protest against the restoration of the ancient mosque in Fakhrali village of Bolnisi, picketed in front of the filling station owned by SOCAR-Georgia, SOCAR associated company, APAâ€™s Georgia bureau reports. The priests held slogans â€œDonâ€™t buy petrol from SOCAR-Georgia!â€. The priests tried to prevent the Georgian drivers from filling up their cars. They said every kopek paid for buying petrol from SOCAR-Georgia filling stations is used against Georgiaâ€™s interests.
â€œSOCAR-Georgia builds mosques in Georgian territories with the money earned from selling petrol to Georgians,â€ the priests said.
Similar picket was held yesterday in Tbilisi and other regions where filling stations owned by SOCAR-Georgia are located.