We were making fun of Baku-Ceyhan
On July 1, a new credit agreement was signed between Georgia and Azerbaijan to give 575 million dollars to Georgia in the scope of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. According to Georgian mass media, the new credit is given for 25-year term on the condition of 5 percent repayment. Those means will be used to restore the roads between Tbilisi and Akhalkalaki. Let us remind that Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad construction is due to finish by the end of next year. In the scope of the project, Azerbaijan has already given 200 million dollars to Georgia. As early as on February 7 2007 in the capital of Georgia three out of four Armenian neighbors signed the “Tbilisi Declaration” regarding deepening interstate communication and energy collaboration. That agreement stipulated construction of the 98-kilometer-long railroad connecting Turkey (Kars) to Georgia (Akhalkalaki), 68 of which on the Turkish territory and 30 kilometers on the Georgian territory. That was an alternative to the Gyumri-Kars railroad needing to be repaired that leaves Armenia out. According to the mentioned project, the Georgian-Azerbaijani section of the railroad should be modernized. The capacity of the railroad will be 30 million tons of transportation (in the case of Gyumri-Kars railroad, that index is 10 million tons). In 2007, Azerbaijan agreed to give 200-million-dollar credit to Georgia to construct the Georgian section of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad. At the time, the project was estimated at 600 million dollars. However, when it turned out the other day that the project has become twice-expensive reaching 1.2 billion dollars, Azerbaijan was forced to give additional 575-million-dollar credit to Georgia making the overall amount of the credit 775 million dollars. In 2007, when this project had been just signed, in this regard, mocking speeches and assessments both officially and by the “patriotic” analysts were voiced from the Armenian side. As opposed to all the skepticism of the Armenian side, the project is in progress and it seems quite successfully. And that process reminds of the situation around Baku-Ceyhan. As a result, Armenia took another economic blow from its neighbors. Head of the RA CB (Central Bank) Bagrat Asatryan thinks this “Armenia’s another economic defeat.”
In this regard during a conversation with “Aravot”, press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tigran Balayan avoiding commentaries presented the official position of Armenia, “We think that this project will bring no stability to the region. We are against creating new demarcation strips in 21-st century.” In response to the remark that notwithstanding the official position of the RA the project is in progress, moreover, it promises a successful ending, Balayan reminded that the European Union a few years before had also expressed a negative viewpoint about that project. Let us remind you on our behalf that the USA has also denied financing this project emphasizing the appropriateness of opening the Armenian-Turkish border. However, the life told that even the efforts of the USA to open the Armenian-Turkish border do not produce a result, meanwhile “the denied” Baku-Tbilisi-Kars is being successfully built.
What influence will the negative attitude of the superpowers and Armenia have at the stage of the railroad exploitation, the future will tell. Let us only remind that recently at a press conference Georgian Ambassador to Armenia Tengiz Sharmanashvili, in response to the journalists’ question, whether Armenia would be able to transport load by that, considering that Azerbaijan wanted to isolate Armenia by building that railroad, said that after Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki-Kars railroad construction, Georgia would allow Armenia to transport goods to Europe by that, “We do not allow neither our friends, nor our enemies to dictate us politics. We explicitly state that Armenia and we are friends and no third country can ever influence those relations and Armenia’s isolation is out of the question. They cannot dictate us how to exploit the railroad that is on our territory.”