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Temuri Yakobashvili: "Opening The Railway In The Abkhazian Segment W

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  • Temuri Yakobashvili: "Opening The Railway In The Abkhazian Segment W

    TEMURI YAKOBASHVILI: "OPENING THE RAILWAY IN THE ABKHAZIAN SEGMENT WOULD REQUIRE BIG POLITICAL COMPROMISES"

    http://www.mediamax.am/en/news/interviews/9284
    Thursday 27 February 2014 09:18
    Photo: T. Yakobashvili

    Temuri Yakobashvili and U.S. President Barack Obama.

    Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili will arrive to Yerevan today
    with an official visit today.

    On the eve of the visit Mediamax talked to Temuri Yakobashvili,
    Senior Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund (GMF) of the
    United States. Before assuming this position in March 2013, Temuri
    Yakobashvili served as the Ambassador of Georgia to the United States
    beginning in early February 2011. Prior to that posting, he was a
    Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for reintegration in the
    Government of Georgia.

    - What is your assessment of the current state of Georgian-Armenian
    relations? What is going well and what can be further improved?

    - Georgian-Armenian relations can be called friendly and functional,
    and currently there are no issues in the relationship at the bilateral
    level that would require specific political effort. Today there is a
    framework in place of functioning mechanisms to address any political
    or economic candor issues. Any improvement in the relationship will
    depend on whether larger projects for cooperation, especially economic
    ones, are available.

    - Do you think that Armenian-Georgian relations can improve or
    deteriorate after the full change of power in Georgia?

    - I think, basically, that relations will remain the same. I cannot
    detect any appetite, on either the Georgian or Armenian side, to
    drastically change the current state of affairs.

    - There is an impression that Mikheil Saakashvili never perceived
    Armenia as an independent player and was treating it as Moscow's
    "agent". How true is this?

    - That impression is entirely false. The previous Georgian leadership
    recognized the factors and sensitivities that affect Armenia's
    geopolitical choice, and this never undermined their relationship.

    Georgian-Armenian relations have a larger history than Armenia's
    foreign policy priorities.

    - This year Armenia will join the Customs Union and Georgia will sign
    the Association Agreement with EU. Some think this could create a
    "dividing line" between two countries. What can be done from both
    sides to avoid such situation?

    - A dividing line should not be expected, but we may see complications
    in bilateral trade during the initial stage of adoption of the two
    documents. A certain amount of time is necessary for the new reforms
    required of membership in the Customs Union and Georgian obligations
    under the Association Agreement to be adopted. Any sort of division
    would most likely be visible through the increasing costs of business
    interaction.

    - When you were part of Georgian cabinet, you were dealing with the
    issue of Armenian monuments in Georgia and, in particular, Armenian
    churches in Tbilisi. However, none of the Georgian governments was
    able to find real solutions to the issue. Do you see any possibility
    for handling this issue?

    - All places of worship on Georgian territory are, by default,
    considered a part of the cultural heritage of our country, and the
    diversity of it is significant added value.

    Temuri Yakobashvili.

    Photo: T. Yakobashvili's archive.

    In the cases of disputed churches, the government promoted solutions
    found within the inter-church dialogue, and in the absence of
    agreements the government position was to proactively treat such
    buildings as important cultural heritage sites. For example, in
    non-functioning churches, a group of Armenian restorationists were
    invited by the Ministry of Culture of Georgia in order to restore and
    preserve these structures. Lastly, the decision of the government of
    Georgia to grant the Armenian Apostolic Church of Georgia the status
    of the entity of public law was important as it made the Armenian
    Apostolic Church of Georgia eligible for public funding.

    - Armenia is isolated from regional energy and transport projects which
    are implemented with participation of Georgia and Azerbaijan. Do you
    see any opportunity for changing the situation and involving Armenia
    before the NK issue is settled?

    - I do not expect any drastic changes in attitudes when it comes to
    oil or gas pipelines, but there is definitely ample room for more
    cooperation when it comes to electricity, both from production and
    transmission points of view. A joined regional electric grid may not
    be an excessively utopian idea, especially as Armenia upgrades its
    nuclear power plant.

    - Shortly after Georgian Dream's victory at the Georgian parliamentary
    elections there was a talk about the prospects of resumption of the
    Abkhazian sector of the railway which faded away, though. Do you
    think that this issue is among the priorities of Georgian leadership?

    - Every new leadership, in the initial days of its governance, may
    be tempted to revisit previously discussed ideas, and there might be
    an initial naivety in discussing these issues.

    Opening the railway in the Abkhazian segment is far beyond any
    technological and commercial considerations, and would require big
    political compromises. The prospect of the state of relations between
    Georgia and Russia, especially the position of the Russian Federation,
    do not leave room for optimism currently or in the near future. Hence,
    this issue will be downgraded out of the list of priorities of the
    current Georgian administration.

    Ara Tadevosyan talked to Temuri Yakobashvili.

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