2016-07-16
04:25:00
The safety of the democratic development and the democratically elected government in Turkey, our partner country, is very important to us, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili stated after today's National Security Council meeting.
Turkey is Georgia's strategic partner, Giorgi Kvirikashvili said, whose stability is very important to Georgia.
According to the Prime Minister, military coups are unacceptable to all democratic states.
The National Security Council meeting discussed possible threats that this situation may pose to Georgia, the Head of Government said; the council alsoanalyzed the latest developments and information provided by the State Security Service and the Ministry of Interior.
"We will monitor the situation all night. To ensure the safety of our citizens, we have limited movement across the border for the time being. The aerial border is closed, and all flights have been cancelled, but it may change depending on the situation in the morning. At this point, we are monitoring the situation. We advise our citizens, wherever they may be, to abstain from traveling to Turkey for the time being, as we hope, for a short period of time. Traveling to Turkey is not advisable because of the situation there is unstable. We certainly hope that it will stabilize soon. In the morning, we are likely to have another meeting session to take further corrective steps depending on the latest information," the Prime Minister stated.
The Head of Government was asked whether or not, under the circumstances, any threat from Russia could be a possibility. According to Giorgi Kvirikashvili, security measures must be enhanced across all borders.
"There where some unfortunate statements yesterday, which is a mater of our concern, of course. We are analyzing this situation. Yes, we discussed security measures in this direction as well. So far, however, no signs of destabilization have been detected. We must exercise caution all along our borders, and we must maintain enhanced security measures. This is what we have at present, and it will remain the same in the foreseeable future, until the situation changes," Giorgi Kvirikashvili said.
Another question to the Prime Minister involved the Foreign Minister's absence from today's meeting of the National Security Council. The Head of Government replied that MikheilJanelidze was in Batumi, participating in the final panel discussion of the Black Sea Conference. In addition, the Foreign Minister of Georgia is busy king on ensuring a safe return for almost 30 participants of the conference who, due to the situation in Turkey, were unable to fly via Istanbul.