Turkey intensifies diplomatic efforts on Georgia

Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement which said Babacan had phone conversations with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs David Miliband, German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner whose country holds EU's rotating presidency, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood
Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt of Sweden that is the chairman of the Council of Europe and chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb.

Babacan underlined that Turkey attached great importance to territorial integrity of Georgia during his phone conversations with the mentioned officials.

The statement said Babacan also exchanged views on "Caucasus Cooperation and Stability Platform" brought up by Turkey with his foreign counterparts.

Local media reported Georgian and Russian foreign ministers are expected to hold separate talks with Turkish officials in the next few days in Turkey.

Private CNN-Turk television said Thursday Georgia's Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili is expected to arrive in Istanbul on Sunday and meet with his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan.

The report added Russian Sergey Lavrov is also expected to arrive early next week. The two foreign ministers are not expected to meet.

The foreign ministry has not confirmed the report yet.

Turkey has been trying to mediate a peaceful solution to the conflict between Russia and Georgia that broke out into war Aug. 7.