ILHAM ALIYEV INTERESTED IN KARS-AKHALKALAKI RAILWAY

Azg/am
31 July 2004

Ilham Aliyev, Azeri President, was in Tbilisi on official visit on
June 14-15. According to diplomatic sources, Aliyev carried out
lobbing for the construction of Kars- Akhalkalaki railway. The Azeri
and Georgian presidents said in the joint press conference that the
Georgian and Turkish Governments are trying to find $700-800 million
for the construction of the new railway that would join Georgia with
Turkey.

Aliyev said that Azerbaijan is for the construction of the railway
between Georgia and Turkey. He said: “That’s a very important regional
project and will serve as an important factor for cooperation, and
Baku will participate in the realization of this project.”

Neither Saakashvili, nor Aliyev specified which way they had chosen
for connecting Georgia and Turkey through railway. The idea of
Kars-Akhalkalaki railroad occurred in the 90s, but that wasn’t
implemented for threereasons: the construction is very expensive,
passes through a region that is difficult to traverse, besides
Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railway that connected Georgia with Turkey was
acting in the Soviet times.

Last May Saakashvili paid an official visit to Turkey. In Ankara he
announced about the decision to construct Kars-Batumi railway. This
project is also very difficult to implement. The diplomatic source
said in the conversationwith us that the project of constructing
Kars-Batumi railroad was replaced by the project of Kars-Akhalkalaki
railroad in the agenda and Baku greatly contributed to that.

Why Baku is so interested in this very project. Akhalkalaki is a
territory inhabited mainly by Armenians. Taking into account the
current Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, Azerbaijan should not be
interested in connecting with the friendly turkey though this very
territory. According to the diplomatic source, both Baku and Tbilisi
are greatly interested in the project, Baku indirectly and Tbilisi
directly. Tbilisi wants to increase its influence in Akhalkalaki. The
Georgian authorities fully control Adjaria. The same can’t be said
about Javakhk.

Recently, Nazir Azmamedov, speaker of Azeri Transport Ministry, said
in the interview to Echo, Baku newspaper, that Azerbaijan is extremely
interested in the construction of Kars-Akhalkalaki railroad. “There
are cases when Batumi port doesn’t work and from this viewpoint
Azerbaijan is interested in the construction of an additional railroad
that will help transfer our goods tothe Turkish ports,” he said.

On August 2 Azeri Transport Minister will visit Ankara to discuss with
the Turkish side the issue of connecting the Azeri, Georgian and
Turkish railroads. Commenting on the July 28 publication of Azg Daily
about using Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railroad, Azmamedov said that “it is
not realistic at all” because of Turkish-Armenian relations.

Why Aliyev is so interested in this very project. Azerbaijan can be
connected to Turkey through it. Secondly, by joining the Azeri,
Georgian and Turkish railroad network Armenia will appear in greater
isolation. Besides, the opening of Kars-Gyumri railroad will be paid
no attention after Kars-Akhalkalaki railroad is built.

Georgia can play an important part in the issue of isolating
Armenia. Because of this concern, official Yerevan in the
Turkish-Armenian relations tries to get Georgia’s consent in the issue
of opening Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railroad. Will they be a success or
not the time will show. It’s clear that the Armenian authorities try
to improve the Armenian-Turkish relations with the help of Georgia as
well.

Mikhail Saakashvili promised during the meeting with RA Prime Minister
to discuss the issue of Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railroad during his
meeting with the Turkish authorities in August. Turkish Prime Minister
Erdoghan is to arrivein Tbilisi on August 11.

It’s worth mentioning that from merely economic viewpoint the
improvement of the Armenian-Turkish relations, particularly, opening
of the Armenian-Turkish border-gate and utilization of Kars-Gyumri
railroad are not in the interestof Georgia, as Armenia transfers its
goods through Georgia mainly. Opening of the Armenian-Turkish border
means that the Georgian state budget will be deprived of the sums
accumulated from the Armenian goods’ transportation.

By Tatoul Hakobian