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ANKARA: Yerevan's Futile Efforts

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  • ANKARA: Yerevan's Futile Efforts

    YEREVAN'S FUTILE EFFORTS
    By Semih Idiz

    Anatolian Times, Turkey
    July 3 2006

    MILLIYET- Armenia believes in the bad state of Turkish-US relations
    and thinks it can take advantage of the international situation.

    However, it couldn't help being excluded from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
    pipeline project, which is very important for its interests in the
    European Union and the US.

    So now Armenia is exerting most of his efforts to hinder another
    project between Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, the Kars-Ahilkelek
    railway project. If this 100-kilometer railway worth $400 million can
    be laid, Azerbaijan and Turkey will be connected through a railway
    over Georgia.

    This situation would make any resurrection of the Kars-Gumru railway
    line irrelevant. In addition, it would further deepen Armenia's
    isolation in the region. Yerevan has set its strong Armenian lobby
    in the US in motion and started to move on a bill in Congress banning
    the issuance of credit for the Kars-Ahilkelek project by US financial
    institutions. Officials from the EU Commission have been saying since
    the beginning of this year that the EU wouldn't support this project
    financially. As a matter of fact, as Foreign Ministry Spokesman Namik
    Tan stated recently, the countries pursuing this project don't need
    the EU or the US in terms of finding money. Yerevan saw this and now
    started to send certain signals that it's ready to make important
    concession so the country's isolation doesn't get worse.

    Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian visited Tbilisi last week
    and, when he saw that he would be unable to convince the Georgian
    government to give up Kars-Ahilkelek line, made an interesting
    suggestion. As Armenian journalist Emil Danielyan wrote on the 'Eurasia
    Insight' website, Oskanyan said that if this project was given up,
    Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan would be use the existing Gumru railway
    line on Armenian territory without Armenia's participation.

    In other words, Yerevan stated that he was ready to provide the
    'right of free entry.' Of course, the three countries which have
    serious problems with Armenia could never accept this suggestion. It
    would also be hard for the Armenian people to accept this. If Yerevan
    considers the issues at the root of its isolation more realistically,
    instead of making such useless suggestions, it would better serve
    their long-term interests. However, it can't do this as a country
    with its eyes fixed on the past, rather than the future.
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