Georgian PM thanks Turkish President for assistance in putting out Borjomi forest fire

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday extended his gratitude to “friendly” Türkiye and personally to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for offering assistance in putting out the Borjomi forest fire in the country’s central-western part.

Garibashvili noted Turkish aircraft crews had joined the firefighting efforts “in the shortest period of time” on the request of Erdoğan.

I want to thank friendly Türkiye and President Erdoğan personally. I want to tell you that as soon as our request was conveyed to him, the Georgian Foreign Minister spoke to his [Turkish] counterpart and conveyed my request for assistance. He [Erdoğan] immediately gave the order, and within an hour three planes were already in the air”, Garibashvili said.

The head of the Government added citizens of Georgia would “never forget” the assistance.

I want to thank [the Turkish side], especially the pilots. I [also] want to once again thank our proud rescuers, police officers, army and everyone [involved in firefighting]”, he concluded.