GOVERNMENT TO BLAME FOR ARMENIA’S "ISOLATION"

Haykakan Zhamanak
July 24 2008
Armenia

The ceremony to lay the foundation of the Turkish sector of the
Kars-Akhalkalaki[-Tbilisi-Baku] railway will take place today in
[the Turkish city of] Kars. This is the railway through which our
neighbours, Georgia and Azerbaijan, will get the opportunity to
establish railway transport links with Turkey. This link was previously
ensured via Armenia’s territory – via the Gyumri-Kars railway. As
a result of the non-operation of the Gyumri-Kars railway due to
the Karabakh conflict, these countries did not have railway links,
which essentially hindered the development of commercial ties between
them. Thus, the Gyumri-Kars railway acquired strategic significance
for these three countries, which implies that it was a strong lever
in Armenia’s hands for solving its regional problems. However, many
understood that it was possible to use this lever only in a very
short perspective, and that the moment would approach when it would
lose its role and significance.

This short period of time should have been used in a possibly efficient
way. As a result of the revolution in 1998 [when former President Levon
Ter-Petrosyan had to resign on the wave of public discontent and under
pressure from some state officials], when in essence a decision to
freeze the Nagornyy Karbaakh conflict was made, this was introduced
as a very victorious policy; it was already clear that our neighbours
would deprive us of our levers. First, the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline
was constructed, which was extended significantly to bypass Armenia;
then the Baku-Erzrum gas pipeline was constructed, which also bypassed
Armenia, and now the construction of Kars-Akhalkalaki[-Tbilisi-Baku]
railway is being accomplished. This was the direct result of the
"victorious" foreign policy of Armenia. And [Armenian President]
Serzh Sargsyan’s flirtations with the Turkish leadership against
this background are laughable, to put it mildly. If he has already
understood that it is impossible to ensure Armenia’s development
without having normal relations with neighbours, then he understood
this very late, and a person of this intellect just does not have the
right to aspire to the office of the Armenian president. If he had
understood this earlier and did not say a word and did not hinder
[former President Robert] Kocharyan’s continuing his "victorious"
foreign policy, then it is even worse. We would like to note that
Kocharyan said three years ago in public that the Kars-Akhalkalaki
[-Tbilisi-Baku] railway will not be constructed. Then, when the
construction started, some of our officials were cynical to the extent
that they said that this railway would benefit Armenia and Armenia
would have railway links with Turkey via Georgia. Now the government
tries not to notice that the railway is already under construction and
that it will be put into operation next year. They are doing the right
thing – if they notice that, then they will have to confess that they
turned Armenia into one of the most isolated countries in the world,
if not the most isolated one.