Daily critical of Armenia’s stance on Turkish-Georgian-Azeri railway project

Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
1 July 05

Excerpt from report by Arman Karapetyan in Armenian newspaper Haykakan
Zhamanak on 1 July headlined “Kars-Akhalkalaki should not be built”

Turkish Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s visit to Baku which
started yesterday [30 June] could be considered one of the regular
visits of Turkish officials to Baku, if not one
circumstance. Yesterday Turkey’s official circles confirmed
information that the construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku
railway is one of the main issues that will be discussed in Baku. The
Armenian authorities have been continuing to keep silence about the
activity on the implementation of this project that has been noticed
for the last period.

Generally speaking, neither the authorities nor the opposition in
Armenia can fully realize the consequences that the construction of
the said railway may have for our country. This is not an accidental
fact in the country which for more than seven years has been guided by
a slogan: “National interests are higher than the Constitution”.

At present, a situation occurs when our enmity with Turkey is more
important for us than economic, military and strategic interests of
the country. After all, an enmity with Turkey brings significant
dividends to the authorities of our country. By preserving this
enmity, [Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan confirms loyalty to
Russia, France and anti-Turkey forces of Europe because it is
important for these forces to have the Armenian factor in their hands
when settling problems with Turkey.

[Passage omitted: political parties’ approach on the issue is similar]

An enmity with Armenia is hampering Turkey’s desire to settle one of
its main political problems, that is, to guarantee a certain economic
and political presence in the Turkic-speaking states of Central
Asia. The fulfilment of this task is impossible without the railway
communication, and the only railway that connects Turkey with Central
Asia goes via Armenia [Kars-Gyumri].

Today to watch calmly the construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway
means to lose the only strong economic lever of influence on Turkey,
i.e. our railway. Moreover, for Armenia the construction of the new
railway [via Georgia] means losing the status of the only railway
corridor that connects the West with the East. This is a political
aspect, but there is also an economic one.

The opening of the Armenian-Turkish border could have brought billions
of dollars to Armenia, about half of which could have been the profit
received from the operation of the [Kars-Gyumri] railway. The
construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway will reduce Armenia’s
profit twice. However, the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway will significantly
improve Turkey’s political position in its relations with
Armenia. After this railway is put into operation, accusations of
Turkey’s blockade of Armenia will weaken as Turkey may say that it
sees no obstacles for the transportation of the Armenian cargo via the
Kars-Akhalkalaki railway and it does not hinder the transportation of
the Armenian cargo via the Bosporus or the Georgian-Turkish highway.

[Passage omitted: criticism of Armenia’s policy on the Baku-Ceyhan oil
pipeline; background details on the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway]

In this situation the main task of Armenia’s foreign policy should be
hampering the further development of the said railway’s construction
and, if it is necessary, making certain compromises for
this. Otherwise we will lose all our levers of pressure on Turkey.

[Passage omitted: reiteration of similar ideas]

We have repeatedly mentioned that the railway communication with
Central Asia is of military and strategic significance for the USA as
it has got a problem of strengthening its military presence in Central
Asia and Afghanistan. It is impossible to settle this problem without
the railway communication: the “front” should have the railway
communication with the rear area. It is clear that the Russian railway
[to Central Asia] may not contribute to the settlement of this
problem, but the Armenian railway is very convenient in this case.
However, if Armenia is indifferent, Turkey may involve the USA in the
construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki railway, as it was the case with
the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline.