ARMENIA TO STRUGGLE AGAINST CONSTRUCTION OF KARS-AKHALKALAKI-TBILISI RAILWAY
By Tatoul Hakobian

AZG Armenian Daily #154, 31/08/2005

Region

The official Yerevan is going to struggle against the construction
of Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railway, proving to the international
community that the project is useless. Vartan Oskanian, RA foreign
minister, stated at the press conference that “Georgia and Azerbaijan
have no moral right” to invest financial sources in the construction
of the railway that overpasses Armenia, as there exists Kars-Gyumri
railway that stopped functioning because Turkey still keeps Armenia
in blockade.

“We find it useless to invest limited international and inner
financial sources in the construction of the new railway,” Oskanian
said, reminding that Armenia can keep away from using Kars-Gyumri
railway but we are ready to provide the territory of our country for
transitional transportations only, to establish railway connection
between Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Recently, the Georgian foreign minister made a threatening statement
that Tbilisi won’t allow any state, including Armenia, to hinder the
construction of Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railway. Vartan Oskanian
repeated that one can’t frighten Armenia with regional projects and
even if Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railway is constructed, “Armenia
won’t disappear from the map, it will continue developing.”