Turkey's success affecting regional countries, Georgian premier says

ISTANBUL (A.A) - January 13, 2012 - Georgia's Prime Minister Mikheil Saakashvili has said Turkey's economic and political success made positive effects on other countries in the region. "Economic achievements of the countries in the region are closely linked to those of Turkey. Because Turkey's own success is affecting its neighbors remarkably," Saakashvili told reporters in a joint press appearance with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a meeting at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport where the two leaders welcomed Turkish and Georgian crew members of a cargo ship who returned safely after being held hostage for 16 months by Somali pirates. Three Turkish and 15 Georgian sailors were taken hostage aboard MV Olib-G, a Malta-flagged Greek cargo ship hijacked back in September 2010 in the Indian Ocean. They were released last Sunday.   Saakashvili said relations between Turkey and Georgia set a model as one of the best examples of cooperation, which he said was based on mutual trust. "In our relations there is no room for hegemony. We have perfect neighborly and bilateral relations and indeed this success we owe it to Prime Minister Erdogan," Saakashvili said.