U.S. House backs funding ban on Turkish-Georgian-Azeri rail link

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
June 26 2006

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation banning U.S.
government assistance to controversial plans for the construction
of a railway that would link Turkey with Georgia and Azerbaijan and
bypass Armenia.

According to RFE, a resolution approved by legislators late Tuesday
contains a provision which says that the U.S. Export-Import Bank
can not finance or promote "any rail connections or railway-related
connections that do not traverse or connect with Armenia, and do
traverse or connect Baku, Azerbaijan, Tbilisi, Georgia, and Kars,
Turkey."

The provision was unanimously backed by the House Financial Services
Committee last month under pressure from Armenian-American lobbying
groups. Its main sponsor, Congressman Joseph Crowley of New York, said
the ban will "assist in promoting stability in the Caucasus region,
help in ending long standing conflicts, and save U.S. taxpayers the
responsibility of funding a project that goes against U.S. interests."

Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the Armenian Assembly of
America, also welcomed the measure, saying in a statement that it
"helps ensure that the U.S. will not be party to the flawed policies
of Armenia’s neighbors."

The administration of President George. W. Bush did not voice
objections to the bill, indicating its opposition to the railway
project currently discussed by the governments of Turkey, Georgia
and Azerbaijan. "The proposed railway would bypass Armenia and thus
not be beneficial to regional integration," Assistant Secretary of
State Daniel Fried said earlier this year.

Similar legislation is due to be debated in the U.S. Senate soon. If
passed, it will effectively block participation of U.S. companies
in the $400 million project that has prompted serious concern from
Armenia’s government.

However, Turkish and Azerbaijani officials have already downplayed
the impact of U.S. funding restrictions. "I think the three countries
have enough funds to finance [the project] in one way or another," the
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman, Namik Tan, told RFE/RL on June 21.

The Armenian government argues that there already exists a railroad
connecting Turkey to the South Caucasus via Armenia and that the
regional countries should reactivate it instead of spending hundreds
of millions of dollars on building a new one. The Kars-Gyumri rail
link has stood idle more than a decade as part of the continuing
Turkish economic blockade of Armenia. Tan said it could be reopened
only after a resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.