New railway plan testifies to Turkish pressure – Armenian minister

Mediamax news agency
26 Aug 05

Yerevan, 26 August: Armenian Transport and Communications Minister
Andranik Manukyan said in Yerevan today that the plan to construct the
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway is “Turkey’s attempt to put
political pressure on Armenia”.

Manukyan said that the railway from Turkey to Georgia and further to
Azerbaijan will bypass Armenia and endanger the already existing
communication lines. The minister said that despite the existing
Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railway, which is ready for exploitation, Turkey
proposes building a new railway which will require “a lot of money and
years” to build. “With this behaviour, Turkey is practically putting
political pressure on our country,” the Armenian minister said.

Manukyan said that the Armenian authorities will speak out against the
construction of the new railway since this plan will cause “Armenia’s
double isolation in the region”.

At present, the feasibility study of the draft project of the
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway is being carried out at the
moment. According to preliminary calculations, the construction of the
98 km railway line from Kars to Akhalkalaki and the upgrading of the
Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi section will cost 400-500m dollars.