The Georgian Democracy Initiative would like to, once again, expresses its deep concerns regarding the developments in the village Mokhe (of Adigeni municipality). The GDI calls onto the Government of Georgia to cease discriminative and repressive policy towards the Georgian Muslim community, and to let the religious minorities perform religious rituals in decent and adequate conditions, much as what is available for the dominant religious group.
Instead of combating discrimination and ensuring the freedom of religion, the government’s irresponsible policy may act as a catalyst likely intended to cause a violent conflict between the representatives of the Orthodox and Muslim communities.
On 21st October 2016, the representatives of GDI visited the village of Mokhe, where they met with the representatives of the local Muslim community. According to the statements of the representatives of the Muslim community, they were demanding the historical status determination of the former Mosque building.
A first incident in the Village Mokhe occurred in 2014, following the decision of the Adigeni Municipality to convert the disputed building (the Muslim community had unsuccessfully demanded its allocation for years) into a Culture Centre. Despite the fact that the building has been the property of the Adigeni Municipality since 2007, after the incidentof 2014, the task of establishing the building’s origins was taken on by the State Agency of Religious Affairs, which has then limited itself to establishing a Special Commission; The Commission has yet to deliver any findings. The Muslim community representatives are justified in their beliefs, that the actions of the Commission and of the Agency, in general, serve the purpose of stretching time, not to resolve problems.
The visit to the Village Mokhe was preceded by media report that on October 14, 2016, at approximately 2PM, the authorities locked the doors of the disputed building in the Village Mokhe center, where the local Muslims have been holding prayers for four days. Since the doors were locked, they have been praying out in the open air, which will continue like this until the fate of the disputed building is clarified.
It was two years ago, on October 23, 2014, that the Statement of the non-governmental organizations, GDI included, assessed the state policy towards religious minorities as ineffective and repressive, and called on the government “to put an end to the persecution of the Muslim community, which now has a regular character.”
Furthermore, the statement underlined that since the 2012, persecution and violence against the Muslim community has systematic character (Nigvziani, Tsintskharo, Samtatskharo, Chela, Kobuleti,Mokhe). According to the NGOs:“These cases were of communal character and were caused by the intolerant attitudes of the local, dominant religious group. The government was unable to handle the case of religious extremism adequately or to prevent the violence by certain individuals by conducting proper investigation. Moreover, the government frequently expresses its loyalty towards the majority and tries to cover up the problem by ignoring the rights of the Muslim community.”
On December 2, 2014, the non-governmental organizations and religious associations addressed the Georgian Parliament with a petition requesting to study the recent cases of religious violence and intolerance. The signatory organizations address the Parliament with a request to ensure parliamentary control over the government's policy and take adequate and timely reaction on recent cases of violation of freedom of religion (including the cases of religious violence and intolerance revealed in Kobuleti, Terjola, Mokhe) for the purpose of preventing violence triggered by religious hatred and to revise the ineffective policy of Georgia’s government in that regard.
Unfortunately, neither civil society nor religious minorities have received an adequate response from the government on any of the similar cases. Instead, the government of Georgia is pursuing the discriminative policy towards religious minorities.
On one hand, the government, as well as local authorities, are systematically, materially supporting the dominant religious group with annually providing it with millions of GEL and regularly handing over real estate for no cost. On the other hand, the Government the justified requests for equality made by religious minority groups are either denied, or are postponed indefinitely, as if for procedural reasons. The problem is never resolved.
The assumption that the postponement of the decision on the origins of the disputed building in Mokhe, and on granting (or refusing) its ownership to the Muslims, is a result of a discriminatory approach, is supported by following facts: in 2009, the government assigned in free of charge usufruct to the Georgian Orthodox Church a former boarding house located only a few meters away from the disputed building (Cadaster code: N61.01.21.001); Likewise, nearby land, where an Orthodox church is located nowadays, was sold to the Orthodox Church, in 2014, for a symbolic amount of one GEL (Cadaster code: 61.01.21.050).
The discriminatory character of the government’s actions is also demonstrated by the fact of encouraging and promoting those individuals who participated in aggressive acts against the Muslim community. For instance, in Chela, after cutting the minaret of a Mosque on behalf of the State, Mr. Giorgi Kopadze, one of the persons who organized a protest rally against the Muslim Community, is now the majoritarian candidate on behalf of the ruling party - the “Georgian Dream”; Likewise, a police officer Gela Kokhodze, who, according to the reports, acted in a particularly disrespectful manner towards the Muslim community during the events of Chela and Mokhe, was appointed as the head of the Mokhe Police Department in 2015.
