The Office of the Ombudsman of Armenia initiated immediate steps to  study the events that took place in the courtyard of the temple of  the village of Gumburdo

ArmInfo. The Office of the Ombudsman of Armenia initiated immediate steps to study the events that took place in the courtyard of the temple of the Armenian-  populated village of Gumburdo (Kumurdo) in Javakhk (Georgia).

As the press service of the Ombudsman's office told ArmInfo, all  developments related to the incident are in the focus of attention of  human rights defender Arman Tatoyan. "On the very first day of the  incident, the Ombudsman's office staff contacted the office of the  Public Defender of Georgia, and Tatoyan personally several times with  Ocha Nanuashvili, the Ombudsman of Georgia. According to the  agreements reached, the office of the Ombudsman of Georgia will pay  special attention to the statements submitted by the Armenian  community. Relatives of the persons participating in the incident  from Armenia can apply to the office of the Ombudsman in Armenia to  clarify the relevant information, "the office statement said.

Note that on September 30, the Armenians of Gamburdo village, wanted  to establish a khachkar in the courtyard of the local church, but met  resistance from the police. Special forces drove up to the scene of  the incident, and after a while, stones were sent to the village by  the villagers. As a result, there were victims from both sides. The  situation was exhausted only after the head of the Georgian Interior  Ministry, Georgy Mgebrishvili, arrived in the place. Since Tbilisi  intends to transfer the church under the protection of UNESCO,  according to the laws of the organization the establishment of the  cross-stone is a violation. This caused a confrontation between the  police and the population of the village. Employees of the Ministry  of Internal Affairs of Georgia instituted criminal proceedings under  three articles in particular: "Attack on a police officer or other  authority or public institution"; "Damage or destruction of a thing"  and "Hooliganism in aggravating circumstances, committed with the use  of firearms or other items used as weapons."

Earlier, in an interview with ArmInfo correspondent, the deputy from  the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, chairman of the Javakhk  compatriot Shirak Torosyan said that at the moment the situation has  already stabilized. "The parties came to a consensus and decided to  leave this issue in the competence of the churches of the two  countries," Torosyan said. "Speaking about the reasons why the  problem arose when establishing Khachkar, after all the Armenian  community established them throughout Javakhk, Torosyan pointed out  several reasons. "This may be a provocation, ahead of the upcoming  elections in October to the bodies of local self-government  (Sakrebulo). Besides, of course, the Armenian-Georgian relations  reached a completely new friendly level, mutual visits and meetings  increased. Naturally, they do not like the Azerbaijani-Turkish tandem  at all, and the representatives of these communities are constantly  trying to kindle enmity among us by speculating on the issue of  Javakhk self-determination, which is supposedly sought by local  Armenians, "Torosyan said. the vice-speaker of the Armenian  parliament, the head of the Armenian-Georgian friendship group,  Eduard Sharmazanov, talked to the phone and expressed the hope that,  based on friendly relations between the two countries, the incident  would be quickly resolved. Head of the Police of Armenia Vladimir  Gasparyan also held a telephone conversation on this matter with his  Georgian counterpart.