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Daily critical of Armenia stance on Turkish-Georgian-Azeri railway

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  • Daily critical of Armenia stance on Turkish-Georgian-Azeri railway

    Daily critical of Armenia's stance on Turkish-Georgian-Azeri railway project


    Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
    1 July 05

    Excerpt from report by Arman Karapetyan in Armenian newspaper Haykakan
    Zhamanak on 1 July headlined "Kars-Akhalkalaki should not be built"

    Turkish Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan's visit to Baku which
    started yesterday [30 June] could be considered one of the regular
    visits of Turkish officials to Baku, if not one
    circumstance. Yesterday Turkey's official circles confirmed
    information that the construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku
    railway is one of the main issues that will be discussed in Baku. The
    Armenian authorities have been continuing to keep silence about the
    activity on the implementation of this project that has been noticed
    for the last period.

    Generally speaking, neither the authorities nor the opposition in
    Armenia can fully realize the consequences that the construction of
    the said railway may have for our country. This is not an accidental
    fact in the country which for more than seven years has been guided by
    a slogan: "National interests are higher than the Constitution".

    At present, a situation occurs when our enmity with Turkey is more
    important for us than economic, military and strategic interests of
    the country. After all, an enmity with Turkey brings significant
    dividends to the authorities of our country. By preserving this
    enmity, [Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan confirms loyalty to
    Russia, France and anti-Turkey forces of Europe because it is
    important for these forces to have the Armenian factor in their hands
    when settling problems with Turkey.

    [Passage omitted: political parties' approach on the issue is similar]

    An enmity with Armenia is hampering Turkey's desire to settle one of
    its main political problems, that is, to guarantee a certain economic
    and political presence in the Turkic-speaking states of Central
    Asia. The fulfilment of this task is impossible without the railway
    communication, and the only railway that connects Turkey with Central
    Asia goes via Armenia [Kars-Gyumri].

    Today to watch calmly the construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway
    means to lose the only strong economic lever of influence on Turkey,
    i.e. our railway. Moreover, for Armenia the construction of the new
    railway [via Georgia] means losing the status of the only railway
    corridor that connects the West with the East. This is a political
    aspect, but there is also an economic one.

    The opening of the Armenian-Turkish border could have brought billions
    of dollars to Armenia, about half of which could have been the profit
    received from the operation of the [Kars-Gyumri] railway. The
    construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway will reduce Armenia's
    profit twice. However, the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway will significantly
    improve Turkey's political position in its relations with
    Armenia. After this railway is put into operation, accusations of
    Turkey's blockade of Armenia will weaken as Turkey may say that it
    sees no obstacles for the transportation of the Armenian cargo via the
    Kars-Akhalkalaki railway and it does not hinder the transportation of
    the Armenian cargo via the Bosporus or the Georgian-Turkish highway.

    [Passage omitted: criticism of Armenia's policy on the Baku-Ceyhan oil
    pipeline; background details on the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway]

    In this situation the main task of Armenia's foreign policy should be
    hampering the further development of the said railway's construction
    and, if it is necessary, making certain compromises for
    this. Otherwise we will lose all our levers of pressure on Turkey.

    [Passage omitted: reiteration of similar ideas]

    We have repeatedly mentioned that the railway communication with
    Central Asia is of military and strategic significance for the USA as
    it has got a problem of strengthening its military presence in Central
    Asia and Afghanistan. It is impossible to settle this problem without
    the railway communication: the "front" should have the railway
    communication with the rear area. It is clear that the Russian railway
    [to Central Asia] may not contribute to the settlement of this
    problem, but the Armenian railway is very convenient in this case.
    However, if Armenia is indifferent, Turkey may involve the USA in the
    construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway, as it was the case with
    the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
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