YEREVAN: BAKU-AKHALKALAKI-KARS RAILWAY PROJECT POLITICALLY MOTIVATED
By M. Alkhazashvili

The Messenger
Dec 20 2007
Georgia

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian said at a parliamentary
session on December 19 that the Baku-Akhalkalaki-Kars railway project
is "politically motivated," according to the news agency Regnum.

"Armenia proposed a cheaper project which would use the existing
railway line, Kars-Gyumri," he said, adding that the rejection of
this proposal "proves that the railway project has political purposes."

Armenia has staunchly opposed the Baku-Akhalkalaki-Kars project since
its inception, and argues for the reopening the Kars-Gyumri railway,
which was closed when Turkey shut its border with Armenia in 1994.

While in the past Yerevan has cited concern that the
Baku-Akhalkalaki-Kars project will increase its economic isolation,
on Wednesday Oskanian said this is not possible.

"Armenia’s isolation happened when the border closed. We cannot be
anymore isolated than we already are," the foreign minister stated.

Support for the project has not come from the West. Washington passed a
law prohibiting US companies from financing the Baku-Akhalkalaki-Kars
following pressure from the Armenian lobby. The EU does not back
the project either, and would prefer to see increased transit links
between Georgia’s ports and new EU members Bulgaria and Romania.

The Georgian government hopes that the construction of the railway
will help stimulate the local economy in Samtskhe-Javakheti province.