Savannah Mayor Edna Jackson and Alderman Tom Bordeaux say, tongue in cheek, they did not instigate the anti-government demonstrations currently occurring in Turkey during their 10-day visit there.
The protests, which are drawing comparisons to the Arab Spring uprisings that occurred in Egypt and Libya, began soon after they left.
Fostering economic growth, not regime change, was their intent during the trip.
Jackson and Bordeaux, who traveled with the mayors of Auburn and Duluth, did press the flesh with local business and government officials while visiting Istanbul and other cities in the hopes of building ties with the country.
Both said the cost of their airfare and daily travel allotment, which totaled about $4,700, was well worth the chance to bring new business to the city and show appreciation to those companies that already have a presence here.
Their travel and lodging costs during the trip were covered by their hosts.
“They now know what we can do,” Bordeaux said. “It forms some relationships for down the road.”
While there, Jackson and Bordeaux met with the deputy mayor and port officials in Antalya, a city of 1 million residents along the Mediterranean Sea; the general manager of the World Trade Center Istanbul; national investment agency representatives; the retired head of a shipping company; the CEO of the Alarko Group, one of the country’s largest business conglomerates; and representatives of the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists.
Bordeaux and Jackson presented a Georgia flag to the latter group.
They also crossed paths with a state delegation, which included state Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, on its return from a visit to Baku, Azerbaijan.
Both returned to Savannah on Friday after departing May 21.
They did not come back with any commitments from businesses in hand, but that was never the expectation, Jackson said.
“This is the first time,” she said. “We go and sell ourselves. Then they come and visit us and see what they want to do.”