The restoration has sparked arguments about whether the mosque should be considered “Persian” or “Azerbaijani,” and some locals question whether the Armenian-controlled territory should be rebuilding its mosques at all.
The Georgian capital has become a stage set for a Hollywood action flick; some joke that the name of the film franchise is just driving as usual in the city.
Local families rushed to move belongings out of their farmsteads, as masked Russian soldiers began fencing off their property from the rest of Georgia.