Gul: We Have Been In Touch With All Sides In Georgia

ANKARA - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul has said about latest developments in Georgia that they had been in touch with all sides to lead them to a compromise.
Responding questions of the A.A correspondent on Sunday, Gul said, ''an atmosphere of instability has emerged in Georgia following the parliamentary elections on November 2. We have been monitoring all developments.''
Highlighting importance of relations with Georgia, Gul said, ''we have been in touch with officials of both ruling and opposing parties. We have been expending efforts to lead them to a compromise. We want Georgia to overcome its problems with compromise and to reach stability as soon as possible.''
Recalling that there had been a mechanism among Turkey, the United States and Russia about stability in Georgia and the Caucasus, Gul said that they would continue exerting efforts to this end.
(UK) 23.11.2003

TURKEY CALLS ON SIDES IN GEORGIA TO ACT WITH RESTRAINT

ANKARA - Turkey has called on the sides in Georgia to act with restraint and understanding of responsibility upon developments in election process.
Releasing a written statement on Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its concerns about developments in Georgia following parliamentary elections on November 2.
''In regard to prosperity and order of Georgia, we expect all sides to act with restraint and understanding of responsibility in this sensitive period to provide stability. As representatives of a friendly country, Turkish officials told their Georgian counterparts that Turkey expected them to pay careful attention to exchange of views with a conciliatory mentality by taking into consideration the future of Georgia,'' the statement added.
The Georgian political crisis reached a new peak yesterday when the opposition broke into the new parliament elected in November 2 elections. The opposition accuses President Eduard Shevardnadze of rigging the elections, and presses him to step down immediately instead of waiting until 2005, when his term ends.
(UK) 23.11.2003