The Messenger, Georgia
June 3 2005
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PanArmenianNet: Georgia justifies itself to Azerbaijan
In the course of the Georgian-Russian talks over the terms and
conditions of withdrawal of Russian military bases that are still in
the Georgian territory, the Georgian party has taken into account the
interests of Azerbaijan, which protests against transit of Russian
arms to Armenia, reported Regnum news agency.
As reported by Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili, in the
course of the Georgian-Russian talks the Russian party insisted on
inclusion of an item on withdrawal of the bases to Armenia, however
the Georgian party “did not cede it” and resorted to “last
concessions” over the terms of withdrawal of the bases to rule out
such an item. As Zurabishvili explained, the Russian party insisted
on the stationing of the bases in Armenia motivating it additional
time is necessary to move these to Russia via the Black Sea. “We
agreed to it exactly for them not to be able to tell us they had to
withdraw bases in Gyumri, as you did not agree to additional time,”
the Georgian FM said. “Thus, we did all we could for the bases to be
withdrawn to Russia,” she noted. As noted by S. Zurabishvili, now “if
a part is withdrawn in the Gyumri direction, it depends not on us,
but a decision of Russia.” In the Georgian FM’s words, she has
discussed it with her Azeri counterpart during the ceremony of
opening the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline held in Baku May 25.
“Our explanations are understandable and acceptable to Azerbaijanis,”
S. Zurabishvili noted. “Azerbaijan sending a note to Russia and not
to us is very correct,” she added. As reported earlier, rail echelon
of 15 cars loaded with military equipment and ammunition withdrawn
from the Russian base in Batumi arrived in Armenia today. According
to data available, ammunition, chemical processing appliance and
antiaircraft emplacements are transported.
PanArmenianNet, June 2, 2005