The decision of granting access to transit the Baku – Tbilisi – Kars rail corridor to third countries will be set through a consensus of the countries involved in the project, declared recently Teimuraz Sharashenidze, the Georgian Ambassador to Azerbaijan. “Many countries are interested in this project, but the decision of granting access pertains to the three countries”, said Sharashenidze adding that there is no dispute between his country, Azerbaijan and Turkey regarding the Baku – Tbilisi – Kars project.
However, it seems that Georgia and Azerbaijan are against allowing Armenia to access the rail corridor. Azerbaijan’s Minister of Transport Ziya Mammadov has been very clear in saying that Armenia cannot use the Baku – Tbilisi – Kars corridor without Azerbaijan’s permission.
The declaration has been made after a reunion of the transport ministers and has answered the declaration of the Armenian Deputy Minister of Transport Artashes Avetisyan who said that “Armenia would like to use the railway line Baku – Tbilisi – Kars in the future, if possible”, the Azerbaijani press informs.
Although not long ago Turkey used to be clearly against any participation in the BTK project from Armenia, now the country says it has proposed Armenia to be part of the complex regional transport projects which link Europe to Asia, but only if there are concrete solutions to the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The proposal has been presented to the Minsk Group of OSCE (group created to lead OSCE’s efforts towards identifying a potential solution to the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, between Armenia and Azerbaijan).
“In November 2012, we presented the Project on Integrated Transport Corridors to the Minsk Group. The project has to be implemented in peace times and especially after Armenia will retreat from the seven occupied regions which border the Nagorno-Karabakh region. We propose the full normalisation of the connections between Turkey and Armenia and Armenia and Azerbaijan”, declared Turkish diplomats for Hürriyet Daily News. The Turkish newspaper also informs that the transport project comprises two phases. On the one hand, it focuses on the connection Turkey-Armenia-Azerbaijan-Russian Federation through the modernisation of the railways currently not used, but also through the construction of new ones. Next to the Baku – Tbilisi – Kars project, a new Turkey-Armenia link could be reopened only with small infrastructure rehabilitation works.
Considering the economic perspectives and the strategic importance of the exterior area of the Caucasus, the Turkish project also approaches the need to connect the countries in this region to Europe and Asia. Transit between Europe and Asia will soon be possible with the completion of Marmaray project and of the Baku – Tbilisi – Kars railway, while the normalisation of the political situation in the region (Armenia’s retreat from the occupied Azerbaijani territories) would also allow Armenia to join the strategic development projects, say sources close to the project.
Well-known for its reservation regarding a potential Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, Azerbaijan has been informed by Turkey about the content of the project. “Azerbaijan knows what we want. We’ve made it clear that this project will be implemented only after Armenia shows its willingness to re-establish peace in the area”, underlined sources from Azerbaijan.
However, Armenia has remained indifferent to the project proposed by Turkey so far and has not sent an official reaction through the Minsk Group. According to the latest data, the Baku – Tbilisi – Kars railway will be fully commissioned in 2014.
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