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OC Media

Council of Europe Racism Commission criticises Georgia’s state religious agency

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Muslims of Orta Mosque pray outside the mosque in Batumi (Mari Nikuradze/ OC Media)

The Council of Europe’s Com­mis­sion against Racism and Intol­er­ance (ECRI) has crit­i­cised Georgia’s State Agency for Religious Issues for failing to fulfil its rec­om­men­da­tions. [Read more…]

Violence against religious minorities ‘poorly investigated’ in Georgia

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Muslims hold a prayer in front of the disputed building in Mokhe (Dato Parulava/Liberali)

Cases of violence based on religious intol­er­ance between 2013–2016 went largely unin­ves­ti­gat­ed, according to the Georgian Public Defender’s 2017 human rights report. The report said it should be con­sid­ered a ‘sys­tem­at­ic problem’. [Read more…]

Video — The story of Mokhe told in the snow

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(Dato Parulava /Liberali)

After a dispute broke out between Chris­tians and Muslims over the ruins of an old building in Mokhe, a village in Adigeni Munic­i­pal­i­ty, the gov­ern­ment created a com­mis­sion to determine the building’s his­tor­i­cal belonging. After two years of work, the com­mis­sion decided not to grant ownership of the ruins to either side. Instead, it declared them a cultural heritage site, named ‘Disputed Building’. [Read more…]

Georgia’s Mokhe Muslims ‘threatened by Christian leader’

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(Tamaz Beridze /OC Media)

Muslims from the village of Mokhe in southern Georgia’s Adigeni Munic­i­pal­i­ty claim they are facing threats from the local Christian authority. Archi­man­drite Nikoloz Getsadze of Zarzma Monastery warned Muslims to stay away from a disputed building claimed by both local Chris­tians and Muslims, at a spot which muslims used to pray every Friday, local Muslim Tamaz Beridze told OC Media. [Read more…]

Mokhe’s ‘disputed building’ to be sealed off for conservation

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Muslims hold a prayer in front of the disputed building in Mokhe (Dato Parulava/Liberali)

The author­i­ties of southern Georgia’s Adigeni District have began sealing off the ruins of the ‘disputed building’ in the village of Mokhe, which has been claimed both by local Christian and Muslim com­mu­ni­ties. Georgia’s National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preser­va­tion told OC Media that the building is being prepared to undergo con­ser­va­tion. [Read more…]

Georgia’s Muslim community dealt double blow in attempts to build mosques

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Muslims from Mokhe (Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)

Georgia’s Muslim community received a double blow on 11 May, when Batumi City Hall rejected a petition to construct a second mosque in the city and local author­i­ties in the village of Mokhe rejected a request to transfer ruins in the village, allegedly of a mosque, to the local Muslim community. [Read more…]

Georgia’s Muslim authority should represent the interests of Georgia’s Muslims, not the government’s [Opinion]

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Sunday prayer in Batumi (OC Media)

Maia Urushadze is a Project Manager in the Peace and Inte­gra­tion Programme at the Centre for Cultural Relations — Caucasian House. Bennett Clifford is an inde­pen­dent analyst focusing on terrorism and religious conflict in the Caucasus.

The Admin­is­tra­tion of Muslims of All Georgia is supposed to represent the interests of all of Georgia’s Muslims. However, instead of respond­ing to community concerns — it acts in concert with the state. To support the political inte­gra­tion of Georgia’s Muslims it must undertake reforms. [Read more…]

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