Azerbaijan, Georgia in talks over blocking of railway traffic

Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
29 Nov 04

[Presenter] The Azerbaijani ambassador to Georgia, Ramiz Hasanov, has
been invited to the Georgian Foreign Ministry over the detention of
over 900 railway wagons at the Boyuk Kasik station on the
Azerbaijani-Georgian border. While Georgian Prime Minister Zurab
Zhvania has said that the situation will not affect bilateral
relations, the Georgian Foreign Ministry has expressed its concern. In
the meantime, the release of the wagons is still in question.

[Correspondent over video of freight trains] The number of wagons
being kept on the Azerbaijani-Georgian border has already reached 975,
the deputy head of the freight processing department under the
Azerbaijani State Railway Department, Teymur Mammadov, has told
ATV. Of these, 450 wagons are loaded with diesel fuel, 396 with grain,
69 with flour, 50 with fuel oil and 12 with LPG [liquefied petroleum
gas].

The issue was discussed during meetings of the visiting representative
from the Georgian Railways Department, (?Ramaz Giorgadze), at the
State Customs Committee. Tomorrow, Azerbaijani customs officials will
leave for Georgia for negotiations, the Azerbaijani ambassador to
Georgia, Ramiz Hasanov, said.

The Azerbaijani diplomat was invited to the Georgian Foreign Ministry
today to discuss the current crisis. Answering journalists’ questions
after the meeting, the ambassador said that Baku insists on the
implementation of the agreement signed during Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Tbilisi. The agreement stipulates that it is
unacceptable to transport by railway cargo that does not meet
Azerbaijan’s and Georgia’s interests.

[Hasanov, over phone] Under that agreement, we have the right to stop
such cargo on suspicion. And this cargo has caused
suspicion. Therefore, we have detained it to conduct an inquiry. Of
course, cargo cannot go through our territory and through the
territory of Georgia to Armenia. We suspect that this cargo might be
bound for Armenia, so we have stopped it.

[Passage omitted: Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania says the
problem should not be blown out of proportion and that some of the
cargo has already crossed the border]