TBILISI. Feb 9 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgian and Turkish border guard services have agreed to take coordinated action against naval border violators.
Major General David Gulua, deputy chairman of the Georgian State Border Guard Department, and Vice Admiral Engin Heper, chief of the Turkish Coast Guard Service, signed a protocol on cooperation for 2004 in Tbilisi. The document outlines coordinated action against violators, as well as personnel training and latest data exchange.
"The agreement on latest data exchange is achieved in principle, specific related issues are still being worked out," Gulua told reporters after the signing of the protocol.
Heper noted that the talks focused on illegal crossing of the Abkhaz section of Georgia's naval border by Turkish vessels.
"The protocol signed in Tbilisi must be a warning for potential violators. From now on, law and order on the sea will be observed much tougher," the Turkish admiral stressed.
According to the Georgian State Border Guard Department, five vessels have been detained for illegal crossing of the Abkhaz border and illegal fishing this year alone. Two of them were sailing under the Turkish flag.