OSKANIAN SPEAKS AGAINST NEW RAILROAD

Armenpress
Aug 31, 2005

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS: Armenian foreign minister Vartan
Oskanian spoke harshly against plans of Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan
to build a new railroad from Turkish Kars to Tbilisi and from there
to Baku, saying his government will be fighting to thwart these plans.

Speaking at an August 30 news conference Oskanian argued that neither
Georgia nor Azerbaijan has the moral right to release money from their
budgets (which are supplemented by foreign aid) to build a railroad
that would bypass the existing Kars-Gyumri railway that is connected
also with Tbilisi. Oskanian said Armenia is developing steadily and
its neighbors’ actions must be in tune with the logic of regional
development, as after all conflicts in the region will be resolved
and the borders open to show that the money invested in construction
of a new railroad was a waste.

He said Armenia is even ready not to use the Kars-Gyumri- Tbilisi
railroad at the first stage should it resume. “We are saying to
Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey; use the existing road to trade,”
he said.

Oskanian also indicated that Armenia may not endorse Kazakhstan as a
candidate for OSCE chairmanship in 2009 because of its biased position
on the Karabakh conflict, though leaders of CIS decided during an
August 26 summit in Kazan to support Kazakhstan’s bid.