The ship was transporting 2,800 tons of fuel to the country's
breakaway region of Abkhazia and was manned by 17 Turkish and four
Azerbaijani crewmembers. Upon
capturing the ship, Georgia took the captains, one Turkish and the
other Azerbaijani, into custody. According to the court verdict, issued
on Wednesday, the two captains have been sentenced to 24 years in
prison. The ship was brought to Batumi, a port city close to Turkey,
and put up for auction. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs has
already sent an ultimatum to Georgia demanding the immediate release of
the Azerbaijani citizens involved. Turkey, however, has yet to respond
to the incident. Nevertheless, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu
will pay an important visit to the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi to
discuss the case of the ship and, most importantly, the crew which was
taken into custody. This is not the first time Georgia has been
involved in such an incident. Sixty-two ships have been seized by
Georgian security forces in the past decade, with Georgia alleging the
ships had illegally crossed into Georgian territorial waters. However,
the primary purpose of the seizures is to prevent trade with the
separatist region. Abkhazia, involved in a full-scale conflict with
Georgia, is mainly run by Russian security forces. In the early 1990s,
as a result of a Georgian-Russian agreement, Russian peacekeeping
forces were stationed in Abkhazia to maintain peace and stability in
the region. However, the Russian forces stayed on and are now occupying
Abkhazia. In August 2008, the Georgian military attacked South
Ossetia, another separatist region in northern Georgia, to “restore the
constitutional order.” Responding disproportionately to the Georgian
assault, Russian security forces defied Georgian forces. Subsequent to
the crisis, on Aug. 26, 2008, Russia and later Nicaragua officially
recognized both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russian recognition of
Abkhazia in fact eased the Georgian maritime blockade of Abkhazia. Now,
ships crossing Georgian territorial waters and heading to Abkhazia
while operating under the Russian flag are not seized. Georgia
constantly strives to block all trade routes to Abkhazia, an attempt to
deprive the breakaway region economically, with Turkish ships suffering
most in the Black Sea due to “Georgian piracy,” as the Abkhazians refer
to the situation. Speaking to Sunday's Zaman, Eastern Black Sea
Exporters' Union (DKİB) head Ahmet Hamdi Gürdoğan said, “Turkish
exporters experience many problems with the Georgian side.” In fact,
there is no clear intelligence on where the ship was captured by the
Georgian Coast Guard. “The ship was captured in international waters,
where there cannot be ‘illegal crossing of Georgian waters',” Gürdoğan
said. Acknowledging that the ship was headed to Abkhazia, Gürdoğan,
however, said Turkish companies have done nothing to violate
international maritime law. “Georgia is trying to place an embargo on
Abkhazia, but what it's doing is clear piracy,” Gürdoğan noted.
Claiming that this problem has been there for a decade and that
hundreds of Turkish crewmembers have been captured by the Georgians,
Gürdoğan asked the Turkish government to act to save Turkish companies.
“We want free, borderless trade,” he said. George Mchedlishvili,
an independent analyst based in Tbilisi who has also lived and worked
in Turkey, told Sunday's Zaman that Georgia's actions are not illegal
but that they are in line with international maritime law. “Georgia has
grounds to capture Turkish ships,” Mchedlishvili noted. He also added
that trade with Abkhazia should be limited and that Georgia should be
given prior notice. According to Mchedlishvili, Georgia should also be
careful to not irritate Turkey, a key ally. Speculating on why Turkey
has more sympathy for Abkhazia, Mchedlishvili rules out Abkhazians in
Turkey having influence. “Correct, there is a substantial number of
Abkhazians living in Turkey, but they are not organized. Georgians have
a stronger lobby than the Abkhazians,” Mchedlishvili emphasized. Caucasus-Abkhazia
Solidarity Committee (KADK) head İrfan Argun shared his concerns
regarding Turkish-Abkhazian relations with Sunday's Zaman. “Georgia has
captured tens of Turkish ships headed to Abkhazia. However, Turkey has
done nothing in response,” he said. Argun, the head of the biggest
Abkhazian diaspora organization, claimed that Georgia is engaged in
piracy in the Black Sea and that Turkey, ignoring the pleas of hundreds
of thousands of Abkhazian citizens, does nothing to address this
problem. “We want Turkey to show its support for Abkhazia and to lift
its embargo,” Argun said. Following a war with Georgia in the early
1990s, Abkhazia adopted a new constitution and formally declared
independence in 1999. It has only been recognized by Russia. In 1995,
the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) called for economic
sanctions on Abkhazia, and Turkey responded positively, canceling
direct cruises between the ports of Trabzon and Sukhumi. Argun also said that he had tried twice to build a mosque in Abkhazia, but the Georgian administration rejected his proposals.
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