ARMENIA AGAINST KARS-AKHALKALAKI RAILWAY
By M. Alkhazashvili
The Messenger, Georgia
Sept 5 2005
The proposed Kars-Akhalkalaki railway link designed to connect the
Georgian, Azeri and Turkish railways is still on the drawing board
but neighboring Armenia is already expressing concern over the project.
During a press conference last week Minister of Foreign Affairs of
Armenia Vartan Oskanian stated that Georgia and Azerbaijan have no
moral right provide funds for the railway, in part because they are
both heavily dependent on international financial assistance. In
addition, Oskanian labeled the project economically senseless.
“We have the Kars-Gyumri railway which does not function because
of Turkey’s wrong policy. We think that every investment in the
construction of the railway that is bypassing the already existing
railway is pointless. We will struggle against it,” Oskanian said as
quoted by AZG Armenian Daily.
The foreign minister said that the event the link is built, it would
be made redundant once the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is settled.
Oskanian added that Armenia will fight against the project with all
possible means in order to prove to the international community the
economic “senselessness” of Kars-Akhalkalaki.
Georgia has offered its support for the project and sent
representatives to preliminary talks on the project. The Tbilisi
government has yet, however, to address the delicate diplomatic issues
of the railway.
The paper Akhali Taoba reports MP David Bakradze, Chairman of the
parliamentary committee for Euro-Atlantic integration as saying it is
clear that threading the railway through Akhalkalaki will facilitate
the economic development of a region which largely populated by
Georgians of Armenian origin.
Bakradze goes on to say that Tbilisi believes the Kars-Akhalkalaki
railway will be profitable for Armenia as well. Considering the
tense relations between Armenia and Turkey, he says, the railway
line between Georgia and Turkey would provide one needed outlet for
Armenia to send its goods to the west.
In Azerbaijan, however, there is an opinion that the Kars-Akhalkalaki
railway will further increase Armenia’s regional isolation and Yerevan
itself is to be blamed for this. The Azeri newspaper Zerkalo writes
“the idea of great Armenia has infected the minds of the leaders of
this country” so much that they cannot notice how gradually they are
falling into regional isolation.
The construction of the 98 km Kars-Akhalkalaki railway and the
rehabilitation of the existing Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki route is expected
to need over USD 400 million.
Legislation proposed by U.S. congressmen could possibly block any
U.S. funding of the project. As for the U.S. government itself,
there has been very few comments. As the paper Armenian Daily writes,
“America’s decision to support or not in Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi
railway construction will help us understand US policy in regard to
Armenia. This project cannot be pointed against Russia, as it does
not limit its influence in Caucasus in essence. Therefore, the United
State’s assistance to Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi railway construction
will mean, as in case of the Caspian oil pipeline, that Armenia’s
isolation does not bother the Americans by the highest standards.
Moreover, cut off Armenia will have no other choice but remain stuck
to Russia, something that the US seemed not to approve.”