 On the same day, the members of the government, several deputies of the Constituent Assembly of Georgia, a few military officers and their families went aboard the ship "Ernest Renan" and sailed first to Istanbul, Turkey, and then to France, whose government granted the Georgian émigrés political asylum.Using Georgian state funds, the government bought a domain surrounding a small "castle" (actually, a hunting lodge) in Leuville-sur-Orge, a small town located near Paris.Leuville was declared an official residence of the government in exile.