Turkish authorities are attempting to disseminate and revive Islamic culture in South Caucasus, according to the expert.

As Ruben Melkonyan told PanARMENIAN.Net, commenting on Georgia’s approving construction of Turkish mosque in Batumi, “not all the mosques restored by Ankara are Turkish ones. Turks simply appropriate mosques, belonging to Persians. By the same principle, Ankara allows Tbilisi to restore Armenian churches, passing them for Georgian ones in Turkey.”

“Adjarians, a Muslim ethnographic group, who initially practiced Christian religion, are currently retuning to their roots. Possibly, Turkey aims to hamper the process by reconstructing the mosque,” Melkonyan noted.