\u201cI\u00a0remember when I had a meeting with Erdogan the first thing he asked me was to close these casinos,\u201d Ivanishivili told journalists. \u201cMany come from Turkey to play here and [they] lose a fortune but what can we do?\u201d<\/p>\n
Billionaire Ivanishivili \u201cretired\u201d from politics in 2013, but Erdogan knew that he was the go-to-guy. According to political scientist Kornely Kakachia, he is “outside democratic control, outside institutional checks and balances, yet he is ultimately calling the shots, which puts Georgia in a vulnerable position both vis-\u00e0-vis democracy and foreign policy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And to Erdogan\u2019s disappointment the old oligarch did not bite.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a type of business, people like it and it boosts tourism,\u201d Ivanishvili said. \u201cTo be honest I would be happy to ban gambling but this contributes to our economy so we can\u2019t have very strict approach.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that means that the ambassador\u2019s office in Batumi will be besieged by phone calls from irate Turkish wives for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In troubled Turkey, where President Recep Erdogan has tightened his authoritarian grip on the country since the failed\u00a0dramatic coup d’etat on\u00a0July 15 of this year, a new potential for dissidence has arisen. And it’s one that Erdogan can’t quite so easily control. To be sure, thousands have been arrested in the wake of the attempted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":40194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,13,18,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Turkey President Erdogan Unhappy Over Access to Georgia Casinos<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n