ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: CONSTRUCTION OF KARS-AKHALKALAK-TBILISI-BAKU RAILWAY WILL NOT ISOLATE ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
Feb 07 2007
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 7, NOYAN TAPAN. Construction of
Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi-Baku railaway, on which an agreement will
be signed soon in Tbilisi, will not isolate Armenia and cause any
economic loss. The Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian stated
this at the parliament on February 7. In his opinion, the decision on
construction of this railway is not perspective from the political
point of view. "The best proof is that neither the EU nor the US
have assisted with the implementation of this program," the minister
said. In his words, this program’s implementation will strain even
more the political atmosphere in the region and may have a negative
impact on the solution of the Karabakh problem. According to V.
Oskanian, the reason of constructing a new railway instead of
using the current Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railway is not Armenia but
Azerbaijan and Turkey. The minister underlined that Armenia is in
favor of establishing relations with Turkey without preconditions
and opening the border between the two countries, regardless of the
problems with this country. But Turkey does not assist, supporting
Azerbaijan and putting pressure on Armenia. "It would be possible
to prevent construction of this railway, or at least signing the
agreement, if we made inadmissible concessions in the Nagorno Karabakh
problem," the foreign minister noted. "And as this is the reason,
we can quietly follow what is going on in Tbilisi without emotional
outburts," V. Oskanian stated. In response to the question of the
deputy Hmayak Hovhannisian, V. Oskanian said that indicating Georgia
as Armenia’s strategical partner in the recently developed National
Security Concept "expresses quite correctly the nature of relations
between the two countries." In his words, Georgia is a country of
strategical importance to Armenia. However, Georgia cannot say the
same about Armenia because no transit routes of importance to Georgia
pass through the territory of Armenia.