The President of Georgia made a comment regarding the Bagrati Church in Istanbul today, after a session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee was held. According to Mikheil Saakashvili, there is no longer a threat of removing the Bagrati Church from the UNESCO cultural heritage list and its restoration works will definitely be completed. As the President stated, this is also the merit of the foreign experts, who have been invited by the Ministry of Culture in order to study the issue.

“Today a session was held at UNESCO, where they were going to discuss the possibility and the threat of removing the Bagrati Church from the UNESCO cultural heritage list. As you know this issue has caused high emotional reactions. We have a specific position regarding this issue. It is very important to us to restore the Bagrati Church. This is important for Kutaisi and the entire Imereti Region. Each Imeretian stands behind this idea. This is also important for all of Georgia because Bagrati is a symbol of the unification of Georgia, and we need a functioning church instead of ruins; a place where it will be possible to pray and hold liturgies; a symbol of the rise and rehabilitation of Georgia. We asked the world’s most famous Italian restorer to do this task and the project that he designed will restore the church while considering every rule and detail. The restoration project is practically completed. Only small details are left and of course, we will finish it after considering and complying with all the advice that the Patriarch of Georgia might have. We have discussed our position with everyone and we have reached an agreement as you have already seen. All of the bureaucratic obstacles have been removed.” – stated the President of Georgia.

Mikheil Saakashvili is currently participating in the BSEC Summit in Istanbul.