President of Diyanet (Religious Affairs) Prof. Dr. Mehmet Görmez visited the Presidency of Georgian State Religious Affairs Agency as part of his official contacts in Georgia.

Visiting President of Religious Affairs Agency Zaza Vashakmadz said the relations between the two countries is going through an important process and stressed that is is pleasing to see Georgia is making a good effort to allow different religions live together in harmony. The agency is in charge of religions and faiths in Georgia.

President of Diyanet Görmez said the newly founded Religious Affairs Agency of Georgia will fulfill an important function and added “I am pleased to see and effort being made by the Georgian government, the Church and other related institutions to have all religions coexist. Here you can only succeed when a system based on mutual goodwill and strong foundations is set up. The issue here is not a security issue but a matter of freedoms. What is to be established here should not aim to supervise but to establish social peace.”

Saying the greatest problem of the era is senseless hearts or heartless minds President of Diyanet Görmez said;

“Men of politics try to establish bonds between two countries and the common minds of countries. Men of religion on their part try to establish bonds between the common characters of nations. The greatest problem of the era is senseless hearts or heartless minds. At the start of the century scientists, philosophers and thinkers believed that religion would come to an end by the termination of the century. But as time went by religion became the rising value in the world. With globalization relations between religion and politics and religion and society plunged into a crisis. We are seeing the whole world being pushed hard because of all this.

Today most of what is happening under the name of religion is occurring because of factors that have nothing to do with religion. That is why clever countries are making clever investments for the sake of the future. They should also invest in this area. Our togetherness with Georgia goes back to ancient times. What is important is to strengthen the togetherness of the past.”

Georgian State Religious Affairs Agency President Zaza Vashakmadze on his part voiced great happiness over the visit and thanked Görmez for the hospitality accorded to him during his visit to Turkey. Vashakmadze said in the civilized world such religious problems should be solved through this kind of cooperation “I hope with the contributions of the Patriarchate we can take concrete steps in the future. You have great experience as an institution. We will be able to establish a much healthier structure with your experience and accumulations.  In view of the religious problems being experienced in the civilized world this kind of cooperation is of great importance. The cooperation we have created here will be an example to the major states. You cannot create obstacles when there is goodwill”

The meeting attracted much attention in the Georgian media and after the talks Görmez briefed reporters about his talks.