Turkish minister visits southwestern Georgia

By Sarp Ozer

BATUMI, Georgia (AA) - The Turkish national defense minister said Tuesday that the increasing activity permitted at the northeastern Sarp border gate, which connects Turkey and Georgia, proved essential to increasing bilateral relations.

Canikli is curently in Batumi in southwestern Georgia to take part in a South-Eastern Europe Defense Ministerial meeting.

"The relations between Turkey and Georgia are continuously increasing," Nurettin Canikli told reporters before meeting with the government chairman of Georgia's Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Zurab Pataradze, in southwestern Georgia.

Canikli said Turkish businesses had made important investments in Georgia, namely thanks to a project aiming at developing the Sarp customs gate.

He also called Turkish-Georgian relations "very special".

Pataradze, for his part, thanked Canikli for his visit and expressed his satisfaction over the increasing number of Turkish tourists in his region.