Tweet
TEMURI YAKOBASHVILI: "OPENING THE RAILWAY IN THE ABKHAZIAN SEGMENT WOULD REQUIRE BIG POLITICAL COMPROMISES"
http://www.mediamax.am/en/news/interviews/9284
Thursday 27 February 2014 09:18
Photo: T. Yakobashvili
Temuri Yakobashvili and U.S. President Barack Obama.
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili will arrive to Yerevan today
with an official visit today.
On the eve of the visit Mediamax talked to Temuri Yakobashvili,
Senior Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund (GMF) of the
United States. Before assuming this position in March 2013, Temuri
Yakobashvili served as the Ambassador of Georgia to the United States
beginning in early February 2011. Prior to that posting, he was a
Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for reintegration in the
Government of Georgia.
- What is your assessment of the current state of Georgian-Armenian
relations? What is going well and what can be further improved?
- Georgian-Armenian relations can be called friendly and functional,
and currently there are no issues in the relationship at the bilateral
level that would require specific political effort. Today there is a
framework in place of functioning mechanisms to address any political
or economic candor issues. Any improvement in the relationship will
depend on whether larger projects for cooperation, especially economic
ones, are available.
- Do you think that Armenian-Georgian relations can improve or
deteriorate after the full change of power in Georgia?
- I think, basically, that relations will remain the same. I cannot
detect any appetite, on either the Georgian or Armenian side, to
drastically change the current state of affairs.
- There is an impression that Mikheil Saakashvili never perceived
Armenia as an independent player and was treating it as Moscow's
"agent". How true is this?
- That impression is entirely false. The previous Georgian leadership
recognized the factors and sensitivities that affect Armenia's
geopolitical choice, and this never undermined their relationship.
Georgian-Armenian relations have a larger history than Armenia's
foreign policy priorities.
- This year Armenia will join the Customs Union and Georgia will sign
the Association Agreement with EU. Some think this could create a
"dividing line" between two countries. What can be done from both
sides to avoid such situation?
- A dividing line should not be expected, but we may see complications
in bilateral trade during the initial stage of adoption of the two
documents. A certain amount of time is necessary for the new reforms
required of membership in the Customs Union and Georgian obligations
under the Association Agreement to be adopted. Any sort of division
would most likely be visible through the increasing costs of business
interaction.
- When you were part of Georgian cabinet, you were dealing with the
issue of Armenian monuments in Georgia and, in particular, Armenian
churches in Tbilisi. However, none of the Georgian governments was
able to find real solutions to the issue. Do you see any possibility
for handling this issue?
- All places of worship on Georgian territory are, by default,
considered a part of the cultural heritage of our country, and the
diversity of it is significant added value.
Temuri Yakobashvili.
Photo: T. Yakobashvili's archive.
In the cases of disputed churches, the government promoted solutions
found within the inter-church dialogue, and in the absence of
agreements the government position was to proactively treat such
buildings as important cultural heritage sites. For example, in
non-functioning churches, a group of Armenian restorationists were
invited by the Ministry of Culture of Georgia in order to restore and
preserve these structures. Lastly, the decision of the government of
Georgia to grant the Armenian Apostolic Church of Georgia the status
of the entity of public law was important as it made the Armenian
Apostolic Church of Georgia eligible for public funding.
- Armenia is isolated from regional energy and transport projects which
are implemented with participation of Georgia and Azerbaijan. Do you
see any opportunity for changing the situation and involving Armenia
before the NK issue is settled?
- I do not expect any drastic changes in attitudes when it comes to
oil or gas pipelines, but there is definitely ample room for more
cooperation when it comes to electricity, both from production and
transmission points of view. A joined regional electric grid may not
be an excessively utopian idea, especially as Armenia upgrades its
nuclear power plant.
- Shortly after Georgian Dream's victory at the Georgian parliamentary
elections there was a talk about the prospects of resumption of the
Abkhazian sector of the railway which faded away, though. Do you
think that this issue is among the priorities of Georgian leadership?
- Every new leadership, in the initial days of its governance, may
be tempted to revisit previously discussed ideas, and there might be
an initial naivety in discussing these issues.
Opening the railway in the Abkhazian segment is far beyond any
technological and commercial considerations, and would require big
political compromises. The prospect of the state of relations between
Georgia and Russia, especially the position of the Russian Federation,
do not leave room for optimism currently or in the near future. Hence,
this issue will be downgraded out of the list of priorities of the
current Georgian administration.
Ara Tadevosyan talked to Temuri Yakobashvili.
http://www.mediamax.am/en/news/interviews/9284
Thursday 27 February 2014 09:18
Photo: T. Yakobashvili
Temuri Yakobashvili and U.S. President Barack Obama.
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili will arrive to Yerevan today
with an official visit today.
On the eve of the visit Mediamax talked to Temuri Yakobashvili,
Senior Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund (GMF) of the
United States. Before assuming this position in March 2013, Temuri
Yakobashvili served as the Ambassador of Georgia to the United States
beginning in early February 2011. Prior to that posting, he was a
Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for reintegration in the
Government of Georgia.
- What is your assessment of the current state of Georgian-Armenian
relations? What is going well and what can be further improved?
- Georgian-Armenian relations can be called friendly and functional,
and currently there are no issues in the relationship at the bilateral
level that would require specific political effort. Today there is a
framework in place of functioning mechanisms to address any political
or economic candor issues. Any improvement in the relationship will
depend on whether larger projects for cooperation, especially economic
ones, are available.
- Do you think that Armenian-Georgian relations can improve or
deteriorate after the full change of power in Georgia?
- I think, basically, that relations will remain the same. I cannot
detect any appetite, on either the Georgian or Armenian side, to
drastically change the current state of affairs.
- There is an impression that Mikheil Saakashvili never perceived
Armenia as an independent player and was treating it as Moscow's
"agent". How true is this?
- That impression is entirely false. The previous Georgian leadership
recognized the factors and sensitivities that affect Armenia's
geopolitical choice, and this never undermined their relationship.
Georgian-Armenian relations have a larger history than Armenia's
foreign policy priorities.
- This year Armenia will join the Customs Union and Georgia will sign
the Association Agreement with EU. Some think this could create a
"dividing line" between two countries. What can be done from both
sides to avoid such situation?
- A dividing line should not be expected, but we may see complications
in bilateral trade during the initial stage of adoption of the two
documents. A certain amount of time is necessary for the new reforms
required of membership in the Customs Union and Georgian obligations
under the Association Agreement to be adopted. Any sort of division
would most likely be visible through the increasing costs of business
interaction.
- When you were part of Georgian cabinet, you were dealing with the
issue of Armenian monuments in Georgia and, in particular, Armenian
churches in Tbilisi. However, none of the Georgian governments was
able to find real solutions to the issue. Do you see any possibility
for handling this issue?
- All places of worship on Georgian territory are, by default,
considered a part of the cultural heritage of our country, and the
diversity of it is significant added value.
Temuri Yakobashvili.
Photo: T. Yakobashvili's archive.
In the cases of disputed churches, the government promoted solutions
found within the inter-church dialogue, and in the absence of
agreements the government position was to proactively treat such
buildings as important cultural heritage sites. For example, in
non-functioning churches, a group of Armenian restorationists were
invited by the Ministry of Culture of Georgia in order to restore and
preserve these structures. Lastly, the decision of the government of
Georgia to grant the Armenian Apostolic Church of Georgia the status
of the entity of public law was important as it made the Armenian
Apostolic Church of Georgia eligible for public funding.
- Armenia is isolated from regional energy and transport projects which
are implemented with participation of Georgia and Azerbaijan. Do you
see any opportunity for changing the situation and involving Armenia
before the NK issue is settled?
- I do not expect any drastic changes in attitudes when it comes to
oil or gas pipelines, but there is definitely ample room for more
cooperation when it comes to electricity, both from production and
transmission points of view. A joined regional electric grid may not
be an excessively utopian idea, especially as Armenia upgrades its
nuclear power plant.
- Shortly after Georgian Dream's victory at the Georgian parliamentary
elections there was a talk about the prospects of resumption of the
Abkhazian sector of the railway which faded away, though. Do you
think that this issue is among the priorities of Georgian leadership?
- Every new leadership, in the initial days of its governance, may
be tempted to revisit previously discussed ideas, and there might be
an initial naivety in discussing these issues.
Opening the railway in the Abkhazian segment is far beyond any
technological and commercial considerations, and would require big
political compromises. The prospect of the state of relations between
Georgia and Russia, especially the position of the Russian Federation,
do not leave room for optimism currently or in the near future. Hence,
this issue will be downgraded out of the list of priorities of the
current Georgian administration.
Ara Tadevosyan talked to Temuri Yakobashvili.