‘The Georgian church cannot support an initiative that considers the creation of a transboundary territory between Georgia and Azerbaijan as a way of resolving the problem of Udabno and Chichkhituri monasteries,’ the patriarchate of Georgia says in its statement.

‘We would like to note with regret that the issues of Udabno and Chichkhituri monasteries still remain unsolved.

As may be expected, everyone wants to find a way out of the situation. One of the attempts we have to contamplate is the idea recently put forward by the initiative group, which considers the creation of a transboundary area between Georgia and Azerbaijan as a way of resolving the problem of these monasteries.

Such a model could have been positively perceived in the case of historical, cultural, legal and cartographical ambiguity regarding the territorial belonging between states.

As for Udabno and Chichkhituri monasteries, we do not have any of the problems mentioned above. By offering this proposal, we are in fact neglecting the documents we obtain and questioning Georgia’s ownership of the territory.

This is the reason why the Georgian church cannot support the initiative,’ the statement reads.