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Armenian paper says regional railway project to fail without US funding
Hayots Ashkarh, Yerevan
28 Jul 06
Text of report by Vardan Grigoryan in Armenian newspaper Hayots
Ashkarh on 28 July headlined "The USA is freezing Kars-Akhalkalak"
A decision by the US Congress not to finance the construction of the
Kars-Akhalkalak [Akhalkalaki]-Tbilisi[-Baku] railway at the expense of
US tax-payers reflects new geopolitical goals and priorities of the
USA in the South Caucasus region. In the pivot of these goals and
priorities there is a task to direct the South Caucasus economically
and politically towards the West via the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline and
other energy projects, and at the same time to form new regional
counter balances. It is not at all accidental that the decision of the
US Congress on 26 July was adopted in condition of the complex
situation in the US-Turkish relations.
After Israel's invasion of Lebanon, when in its turn Turkey demanded
that the USA gave carte blanche for an invasion to northern Iraq, the
Americans made clear to Turkey that the invasion of Iraq meant
Turkey's good-bye to prospects of joining the European Union. The
abovementioned decision of the US Congress is another important
warning to Turkey which is forming energy and transport corridors
simultaneously in several directions.
The stronger the US positions are in the Middle East and the South
Caucasus, the clearer is the fact that the USA may consider Israel its
only "governor" [in the region] which has no an alternative. Turkey,
in turn, because of its convenient geographic position has not only
alternatives but is looking for them everywhere: in Russia, in the
Muslim world, in the Caucasus-Middle East region which is rich with
energy resources.
Thus, strict political will expressed by the US Congress on 26 July is
evidence of the fact that this is not a victory of the Armenian lobby
over Turkey and Azerbaijan as many people think today. It would be
also naive to think that all this is simply a victory of justice about
which representatives of the Armenian Assembly of America declare.
Does it mean that the problem of the Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi railway
construction which contradicts US interests may be considered closed?
Given recent statements of Azerbaijani and Turkish officials, they are
ready to finance the project without US funding. But there is also
Georgia for which it would be very difficult to oppose strict
political will of the US Congress expressed on 26 July.
This resolution by the House of Representatives may lead to a delay in
the Georgian-Turkish-Azerbaijani talks on the construction of the
Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi railway and to deepening of disagreements
between the parties. As for the construction itself, it will remain
unsettled and will be forgotten later. Or on the contrary, it will be
revived depending on changes in US policy in the South Caucasus.
Hayots Ashkarh, Yerevan
28 Jul 06
Text of report by Vardan Grigoryan in Armenian newspaper Hayots
Ashkarh on 28 July headlined "The USA is freezing Kars-Akhalkalak"
A decision by the US Congress not to finance the construction of the
Kars-Akhalkalak [Akhalkalaki]-Tbilisi[-Baku] railway at the expense of
US tax-payers reflects new geopolitical goals and priorities of the
USA in the South Caucasus region. In the pivot of these goals and
priorities there is a task to direct the South Caucasus economically
and politically towards the West via the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline and
other energy projects, and at the same time to form new regional
counter balances. It is not at all accidental that the decision of the
US Congress on 26 July was adopted in condition of the complex
situation in the US-Turkish relations.
After Israel's invasion of Lebanon, when in its turn Turkey demanded
that the USA gave carte blanche for an invasion to northern Iraq, the
Americans made clear to Turkey that the invasion of Iraq meant
Turkey's good-bye to prospects of joining the European Union. The
abovementioned decision of the US Congress is another important
warning to Turkey which is forming energy and transport corridors
simultaneously in several directions.
The stronger the US positions are in the Middle East and the South
Caucasus, the clearer is the fact that the USA may consider Israel its
only "governor" [in the region] which has no an alternative. Turkey,
in turn, because of its convenient geographic position has not only
alternatives but is looking for them everywhere: in Russia, in the
Muslim world, in the Caucasus-Middle East region which is rich with
energy resources.
Thus, strict political will expressed by the US Congress on 26 July is
evidence of the fact that this is not a victory of the Armenian lobby
over Turkey and Azerbaijan as many people think today. It would be
also naive to think that all this is simply a victory of justice about
which representatives of the Armenian Assembly of America declare.
Does it mean that the problem of the Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi railway
construction which contradicts US interests may be considered closed?
Given recent statements of Azerbaijani and Turkish officials, they are
ready to finance the project without US funding. But there is also
Georgia for which it would be very difficult to oppose strict
political will of the US Congress expressed on 26 July.
This resolution by the House of Representatives may lead to a delay in
the Georgian-Turkish-Azerbaijani talks on the construction of the
Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi railway and to deepening of disagreements
between the parties. As for the construction itself, it will remain
unsettled and will be forgotten later. Or on the contrary, it will be
revived depending on changes in US policy in the South Caucasus.