Source : Agencies | 18 Feb 2013

Turkey and Georgia agree that a new mosque will be built in Batumi, Georgian capital.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Georgian counterpart Bidzina Ivanishvili discussed the construction of the new mosque in Batumi during Ivanishvili's official visit to Ankara.

According to the agreement, Georgia will restore Oshk and Ishkhan temples in Turkey.

Bidzina Ivanishvili told reporters on Saturday, "there are many Muslims in Batumi and Adjara. Also there are investors and tourists who are left with no chapels. Georgia has no problems concerning construction of the mosque." The head of government of Adjara, Archil Habadze, who previously was a member of the delegation, is now looking for a suitable location.

"We will find the appropriate site in the near future and construction of the mosque will start," Ivanishvili said He stressed that under the agreement with the Prime Minister of Turkey, in return for construction of a mosque, Georgian experts will be allowed for the restoration of Georgian churches in Turkey - Ishkhani and Oshki.

In Batumi, where Otttoman State had ruled for about 300 years and built many mosques, there is one mosque that survives today.