Abkhaz Reports: Turkey Ready for Maritime Link with Sokhumi

Visiting Turkish Ambassador to Georgia Ertan Tezgor said after talks with breakaway Abkhazia?s Prime Minister Aleksandr Ankvab in Sokhumi on June 2 that Turkey is ready to open a maritime link with Abkhazia and help bring Turkish investments to the breakaway region, the Abkhaz news agency Apsnipress reported. 

?I think it is important to undertake a number of concrete steps. We are ready to consider the issue of opening a direct maritime link between Turkey and Abkhazia – and not just a passenger one,? Ambassador Ertan Tezgor was quoted by Apsnipress as saying.

?Turkey and Russia are interested in a stable situation in the Caucasus region. Over 7 million emigrants from the Caucasus live in Turkey. Knowing the demographic situation in Abkhazia, we want to contribute to its improvement. We want ties between you and your brothers in Turkey [descendants of those Muslim Abkhazians who were forced to migrate in the 19th century] to closer. We are interested in the Abkhaz diaspora in Turkey investing more freely in Abkhazia,? Apsnipress quoted Ambassador Ertan Tezgor.

Officials from the Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi were unavailable for comment over the weekend.

In an information note issued on the eve of the Turkish diplomat’s visit to Abkhazia, which was held from June 1-2, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said that the issues that the Turkish diplomat planned to discuss during the visit were agreed upon beforehand with the Georgian Foreign Ministry.

After the talks with the Turkish Ambassador, Prime Minister of the breakaway region Aleksandr Ankvab hailed Ertan Tezgor?s proposal over a maritime link and said that the ?Georgian authorities should not be happy? about this project.