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TBILISI: Press Scanner: Georgia justifies itself to Azerbaijan

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  • TBILISI: Press Scanner: Georgia justifies itself to Azerbaijan

    The Messenger, Georgia
    June 3 2005

    Press Scanner

    PanArmenianNet: Georgia justifies itself to Azerbaijan


    In the course of the Georgian-Russian talks over the terms and
    conditions of withdrawal of Russian military bases that are still in
    the Georgian territory, the Georgian party has taken into account the
    interests of Azerbaijan, which protests against transit of Russian
    arms to Armenia, reported Regnum news agency.

    As reported by Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili, in the
    course of the Georgian-Russian talks the Russian party insisted on
    inclusion of an item on withdrawal of the bases to Armenia, however
    the Georgian party "did not cede it" and resorted to "last
    concessions" over the terms of withdrawal of the bases to rule out
    such an item. As Zurabishvili explained, the Russian party insisted
    on the stationing of the bases in Armenia motivating it additional
    time is necessary to move these to Russia via the Black Sea. "We
    agreed to it exactly for them not to be able to tell us they had to
    withdraw bases in Gyumri, as you did not agree to additional time,"
    the Georgian FM said. "Thus, we did all we could for the bases to be
    withdrawn to Russia," she noted. As noted by S. Zurabishvili, now "if
    a part is withdrawn in the Gyumri direction, it depends not on us,
    but a decision of Russia." In the Georgian FM's words, she has
    discussed it with her Azeri counterpart during the ceremony of
    opening the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline held in Baku May 25.

    "Our explanations are understandable and acceptable to Azerbaijanis,"
    S. Zurabishvili noted. "Azerbaijan sending a note to Russia and not
    to us is very correct," she added. As reported earlier, rail echelon
    of 15 cars loaded with military equipment and ammunition withdrawn
    from the Russian base in Batumi arrived in Armenia today. According
    to data available, ammunition, chemical processing appliance and
    antiaircraft emplacements are transported.

    PanArmenianNet, June 2, 2005
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