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TBILISI: Tbilisi shows willingness for compromise on Abkhaz railway

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  • TBILISI: Tbilisi shows willingness for compromise on Abkhaz railway

    The Messenger, Georgia
    June 6 2005

    Tbilisi shows willingness for compromise on Abkhaz railway
    Paper speculates that base agreement was in exchange for Trans
    Caucasus Railroad
    By M. Alkhazashvili

    The Georgian government is reportedly ready to compromise on the long
    awaited railroad project to reconnect Russia and Armenia via
    Abkhazia. While political groups applaud the change, Georgian media
    speculates that Russia stipulated the railroad as a condition to
    close its military bases here.

    The Georgian government has softened its position regarding the Trans
    Caucasian Railway, which connects Armenia and Russia via Georgia
    proper and separatist-controlled Abkhazia. According statements from
    government officials, Georgia agrees to allow the railway to
    operation, if Georgian refugees are simultaneously returned to
    Abkhazia.

    According to Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze, this is a marked
    changed; a few years ago the government's position was unilaterally:
    first the return of the refugees and then the railway. "But over the
    last two years, we have changed our position and have agreed to
    implementing these processes simultaneously," she is quoted as saying
    by the newspaper Alia.

    The announcement was made after Burjanadze spoke with Armenian Prime
    Minister Andranik Markarian. For years, Armenian officials have
    underlined the importance of restoring the Trans Caucasian railway,
    and Markarian's June 2 visit was no exception.

    The fact that he came to Tbilisi for a CIS summit places the issue in
    a wider context. The newspaper Alia went so far as to report that
    Russia is demanding the restoration of the railway in return for
    withdrawing its military bases from Georgia.

    However, according to Georgian officials, the government's new
    compromising attitude boils down to economics. MP Kote Gabashvili,
    chair of the parliamentary foreign relations committee, explained it
    as a simple change in tactics: unilateralism failed to produce
    results. Now the accent will be placed on implementing profitable
    economic projects.

    Russia is Armenia's main strategic and trade partner. Given Yerevan's
    vital interest in restoring the key link with Russia, Georgia has
    frequently asked Armenia to use its leverage with Russia to resolve
    the frozen Abkhazia conflict.

    "We ask only ask that Russia adopts an objective position in regard
    to Abkhazia. That Russia plays the role of mediator, speeds up the
    negotiation process and the return of the Georgian refugees,"
    Burjanadze was quoted by Khvalindeli Dghe as saying. "In such case,
    clearly the railway restoration process will begin very quickly...our
    formula is well known: the Trans Caucasus Railway will be restored in
    parallel with the settlement of certain political processes and the
    return of refugees, beginning with the Gali region," she said.

    According to reports by the Georgian media, an agreement is on the
    horizon. "Tbilisi is being promised a minor breakthrough in the Gali
    issue, namely the return of the refugees and an autonomous status for
    the region [which has traditionally been inhabited largely by ethnic
    Georgians]. Gali will come under the influence of Tbilisi and yet
    remain in the interests of Sokhumi. They will leave the local
    administration to a Georgian [in Gali]," Alia reports.

    Opposition parties also support restoring the railway in conjunction
    with returning refugees. According to a representative of the New
    Rights Irakli Iashvili, opening the railroad without any political
    justification would be unacceptable. "It would be wrong if we don't
    receive political benefits and open the railway for purely economic
    reasons," he said. But he added that returning the refugees to
    Abkhazia is a viable benefit.

    Republican Party leader Davit Berdzenishvili also agrees with the
    government's new position. According to him, the railway should be
    opened, as should the highway. He added that Georgian-Abkhazian
    companies should be created, because the more economically powerful
    Georgia is, the easier it will be to regain Abkhazia.
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