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TBILISI: BTC pipeline under threat?

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  • TBILISI: BTC pipeline under threat?

    The Messenger, Georgia
    June 14 2005

    BTC pipeline under threat?

    The Georgian media is speculating that the pipeline may be targeted
    by Armenian and Kurdish terrorist groups
    By M. Alkhazashvili

    Security issues surrounding the BTC pipeline, which began operating
    in May, have come increasingly to the fore in recent weeks, with
    speculation in the Georgian media that the pipeline could be the
    target of a terrorist attack.

    The reports follows threats from different Kurdish and Armenian
    organizations that they intend to carry out a terrorist attack on the
    pipeline. The Georgian media speculates that such groups could be
    supported by Russia, the country that would benefit most should the
    BTC project be derailed, although there is no evidence to back up
    this theory.

    >>From the very beginning, the possibility of terrorist attacks was
    seen as one reason for not going ahead with the pipeline. As early as
    August 1993, Asala (the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of
    Armenia) warned the pipeline must not pass through "Armenian occupied
    territories." The Kurdistan National Congress is another organization
    that threatened the BTC project at the time.

    After construction got underway, however, the situation changed
    considerably. Asala stopped committing terrorist acts and the
    Kurdistan National Congress agreed to a ceasefire. But on June 6th
    Rezonansi reported that the Kurdish National Congress had again
    issued a statement threatening the BTC project.

    A large section of the pipeline runs through Turkish Kurdistan, where
    the situation has always been tense. Last summer there were several
    terrorist acts in Turkey which Kurdish terrorist organizations took
    responsibility for and they have threatened to further increase their
    activities, reports Alia.

    Rezonansi reports that relations between Kurds and the Turkish
    government have recently become strained and that Kurdish
    organization are now threatening both the Turkish tourist industry
    and the BTC pipeline.

    As for any possible Armenian threat, however, Van Baiburt, a Georgian
    MP of Armenian origin, says that the Armenian threat is not serious
    and that Asala has genuinely given up terrorist activities.
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