Georgia, Turkey Hold Mosque-for-Church Talks

A new mosque will be a bridge between Turkey and Georgia, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoğlu, but, depending on how the matter is handled, the sanctuary could also become a wall between the two countries.   

Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan -- the only three mutually friendly countries to be found in the South Caucasus region -- have been talking up a storm at a March 28 tripartite meeting of foreign ministers in the Georgian Black Sea city of Batumi.

The trio may share projects on energy transit, trade and security, but the topic of religion remains a potentially divisive point.

Georgia, a regional bastion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, has church issues with both of its Muslim neighbors.

With Azerbaijan, it is the occasional flaring-up of a longtime dispute over the monastery of Davit Gareji. With Turkey, it is the restoration of the ancient Georgian monasteries of Oshki and Ishkhan, a deep cultural and spiritual issue for Georgians.

Turkey has agreed to help rehabilitate the crumbling buildings, but, in return, it requested the construction of a large mosque in Batumi for local Muslims.

“Be it a church or a mosque, it is our cultural heritage and we are happy to help their rehabilitation,” Davutoğlu said in Batumi, Netgazeti.ge reported.

Many Georgians, though, do not see the request for a grand new mosque as a fair trade for restoring cultural heritage sites in Turkey. A sense of insecurity about the growing Turkish presence in Batumi and the environs is running strong. Tbilisi's statement that the mosque will be built touched off an angry murmur among Georgian Orthodox believers and sensationalist headlines in the tabloids.

It remains to be seen if diplomatic pragmatism will prevail over the tidal pull of the often inflammatory religious and cultural disputes that have gotten Georgia into trouble before.