Armenian MPs look for counterbalance to major Azeri oil pipeline project

Arminfo
27 May 05

YEREVAN

Armenia should look for opportunities to restore the balance of forces
in the South Caucasus region which was breached due to the launch of
the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, Armenian MPs said at a briefing
in the National Assembly today.

The head of the parliamentary faction of the Republican Party of
Armenia [RPA], Galust Saakyan, pointed out that the processes
happening in the neighbouring republic [Azerbaijan] cannot affect the
situation in Armenia. But he said the exploitation of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and Azerbaijan’s economic development
would have a favourable impact on the development of the whole of the
region in general.

Commenting on the signing of an agreement on the construction of the
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railway, Saakyan said that this project is
not directed against any third country and does not pursue any
political aims.

“I am confident that the goal of the construction of the
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railway is to meet the communication needs of
Georgia and Turkey,” the head of the RPA faction said.

In turn, the head of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation –
Dashnaktsutyun [ARFD] faction, Levon Lazarian, said that the
neighbours’ efforts to sideline Armenia from regional projects will
boomerang against these countries since the difficult situation in
which Armenia has found itself because of its neighbours’ fault,
hinders the development of the whole of the region. At the same time,
Lazarian said that the exploitation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil
pipeline did not disturb the balance of forces in the region.

The head of the ARFD faction also said that Armenia should find a
counterbalance to the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. The MP said that an
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline and Armenia’s economic development could
provide such a counterbalance.

The head of the commission for state legal issues, Rafik Petrosyan,
said that Armenia should expand intensively cooperation with Iran and
Asian countries to counterbalance the exploitation of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

The secretary of the opposition Justice bloc, Viktor Dallakyan, said
that Armenia has been sidelined from all regional programs. He pointed
out that Armenia could be completely isolated as a result of the
possible construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railway. He
added that Azerbaijan and Turkey will receive 1.5bn dollars and
Georgia 650m dollars from the exploitation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
oil pipeline this year alone. Dallakyan believes that the situation
has exacerbated further after the signing of an agreement between the
USA, Britain, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey on the joint defence of
the oil pipeline in case of regional tension.

Dallakyan pointed out that the only way out of the current situation
for Armenia was the democratic and economic development of the
country.

[Passage omitted: details of the Baku-Ceyhan project]