2024-05-16
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkey
I greet everyone wholeheartedly and with respect. It is very exciting to be hosting Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and his delegation in Ankara, Turkey's capital. Once again, I welcome them in your presence. Yesterday, we received devastating news from our friendly country, Slovakia. A heinous attack was carried out against the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Mr. Robert Fico. I wish him and the Slovak people to overcome this problem soon, and we will continue standing up to any fact disturbing peace.
I would like to wish our friendly Georgian nation in advance a Happy Independence Day. I also want to congratulate the Prime Minister of Georgia on his appointment in February and wish him success.
We the leaders of two friendly strategic partners had a meeting and a very productive conversation today. I reaffirmed support for Georgia's territorial integrity, sovereignty, and prosperity. I also expressed my continuous support on the path to integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions.
Dear Prime Minister, I was very pleased to have been briefed by you about the events unfolding in Georgia. We in Turkey believe that these developments will be concluded in line with the Georgian people's best interests. Last year, our bilateral trade made up 3 billion USD. We promised each other to reach 5 billion USD as our new target. I believe that we have enough potential to reach this number very soon and tap into our business opportunities.
The context of regional cooperation is very important in Turkey-Georgia relations, and we continue our efforts toward the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railroad project, the backbone of the Middle Corridor reviving the historical Silk Road. I hope that it will be operable very soon, and we avail ourselves of this opportunity to reassure each other of our commitment to being equally successful in our cooperation on other transport and energy projects.
I informed Mr. Prime Minister that we are ready to engage in Georgia's largest projects, such as airport and seaport construction, also in the area of energy, building transmission lines. We also expressed our wish and promised each other to cooperate on security matters, against organized crime and terrorist organizations, especially FETO and PKK. We promised each other to cooperate in fighting against these illegal Turkish organizations posing a threat for our citizens. We are ready to cooperate at home and abroad, sparing no effort in this direction. Our country will continue prosecuting and punishing terrorists.
Representatives of the press, in our meeting with the Prime Minister we discussed regional and global issues. We shared our assessments on the developments in the Gaza Strip and the role of engagement from the international community. All of humanity must support the Palestinian people's fight for freedom. They have paid a high price for it, and all of humanity must come together within legal and diplomatic boundaries. The UNGA Resolution shows where the international community stands, and I too believe that support mechanisms are in order to encourage Palestine. This is very important, crucial at this point. I urge every country that has not recognized the statehood of Palestine to do so.
In our conversation, we exchanged views on the Ukraine-Russia war. We support Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty. We emphasized the importance of peace, including in the Caucasus, and we promised each other to continue in this direction.
I believe that the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a historic opportunity for the entire region.
Our national football team is in the same group as the Georgian national team, and we will face off in the German city of Dortmund on June 18. I wish success to both teams. Before yielding the floor, I want to thank Mr. Prime Minister and his delegation for their visit. Once again, I hope that our meetings will produce desired outcomes. Thank you very much!
Irakli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister of Georgia
Mr. President, esteemed media representatives, ladies and gentlemen, greetings,
It is a great honor to be paying an official visit our friendly country, the Republic of Turkey, for the first time in the rank of Prime Minister. Georgia and Turkey enjoy very close cooperation, strategic partnership-and, of course, we all cherish this partnership. It is a special honor to be visiting Mr. President Erdogan, not only the republic's president but its true leader, who steadfastly protects the interests of Turkey and the Turkish people. Your leadership is a role model for each of us.
Needless to say, we condemn the attack on Prime Minister Fico, and I wish a speedy recovery to the Prime Minister of Slovakia.
Your Excellency, I would like to thank you for your exceptional hospitality. Today, during both one-on-one and extended-format meetings, we discussed the active agenda of the bilateral and multilateral relations between Georgia and Turkey, also sharing views on important regional matters and setting prospects of future cooperation.
We spoke about maintaining the dynamic of high-level meetings. I personally asked President Erdogan to visit Georgia. I hope that his official visit to Georgia will take place soon.
Georgia appreciates and prizes Turkey's support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and I want to emphasize and express special gratitude personally to the President for supporting Georgia and its national interests.
I shared with His Excellency information about the EU candidate country status granted to Georgia and relevant plans for the future. We also spoke about the regional situation and our joint efforts toward tackling these challenges.
We have said repeatedly, and I want to emphasize again, that Georgia favors the formula of peaceful coexistence in the South Caucasus and is ever-ready to contribute to the process of facilitating peace and constructive cooperation in the region. We welcomed the fact that, based on the agreement reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the process of national boundary delimitation has started, in this way setting the stage for the two countries to sign the final peace treaty. For its part, Georgia is committed to continuing its contribution to peace and stability in the region.
In the context of security challenges, we spoke about the ongoing processes in Ukraine, the war in Ukraine, which poses a threat to the fundamental security architecture of Europe and the Black Sea. We also pointed out Turkey's tireless efforts toward facilitating opportunities for dialogue between the opposing sides.
Of course, I briefed Mr. President on various processes unfolding in our country.
We also discussed the processes underway in the Near East. It was noted that Georgia supports the idea stipulating the necessity of establishing peace in the Near East, and this can only be achieved through negotiations with support from the international community.
Given the processes in our modern world, special emphasis was placed on prospects of deeper regional, trade and economic, and transport and energy cooperation. In this context, we underlined the importance of the transit function and connectivity.
The Republic of Turkey is Georgia's number one trade partner, and we discussed ways to deepen our partnership even further. Of course, we see enormous potential in terms of furthering our bilateral trade. We also spoke about the importance of export from Georgia and bilateral trade in general.
We believe that regional cooperation is key, and it should seek to promote peace and stability, also the development of our countries. In this regard, the trilateral Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey format is a very good example of effective and successful cooperation between countries respecting one another's national interests, of this cooperation allowing to carry out projects vitally important to the region.
We also discussed various strategic projects linking our countries. Of course, it is very important to continue developing our strategic cooperation in every direction.
We also spoke about other dimensions of cooperation, such as cooperation in the areas of education, defense, and security. Of course, we attach special importance to each of these aspects of cooperation.
Mr. President, this meeting has reiterated our common interest of maximally working toward further deepening our cooperation and strategic partnership, which is very important for realizing the interests of our nations. Once again, I am truly grateful for your warm hospitality. Thank you very much!