Turkey to allocate $17 million to Georgia for military reform

Hulusi Akar

TBILISI, December 25. /TASS/: Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Garibashvili signed an agreement with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar for Turkey to allocate 100 million lira (around $17 million) to Georgia to carry out a reform in the military logistics sphere during Garibashvili’s official visit to Turkey, the Georgian Defense Ministry’s press service reported on Wednesday.

"Defense Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili and Defense Minister of the Republic of Turkey Hulusi Akar signed an agreement on military and financial cooperation between the Georgian and Turkish governments. The treaty on logistics support envisages allocation of 100 million lira by Turkey to the Georgian Defense Ministry," the statement reads.

Garibashvili left for Turkey yesterday. He already had one-on-one talks with Akar as well as in expanded format. The sides discussed issues of cooperation in military education, implementation of the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package (SNGP) that was granted to Tbilisi at the 2014 Wales Summit, as well as important aspects of the trilateral military partnership between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. As part of the official visit, the Georgian delegation laid flowers at the tomb of first Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and visited a museum dedicated to him.