The 8-year-old Kars-Tbilisi-Baku Railroad Project moves up in the agenda. The reason is that the Armenian lobby in the United States has blocked loans to this project in the U.S. Senate. Immediately afterwards, the fact that Russia, a neocolonial power and master in Armenia, is about to impose an embargo on Georgia, also brings another light to the project. This route will be Turkey's cheapest and shortest access to Central Asia. Also, Georgia, immersed in economic troubles, will become a transit center of the region with the help of this railroad, the Turkish English newspaper Daily News reported.
The Turkish Transportation Ministry sheds light to which phase the project is at: "The technical project of the route will be completed at the end of 2006. In 2007, a tender will be held. and the estimated cost of the project is 0 million."
The closure of the Turkish-Armenian border in Dogukapı in 1993 has brought Kars economy to a standstill. Significant volumes of goods were exported to Iraq and Syria through this gate .
The aim of the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku Railroad project is to expand the trade volume among Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. This route will bypass Dogukapı meaning Armenia, the country that has troubles with Turkey and Azerbaijan, and end in Akhalkalaki, a small city in Georgia's southern region. From Akhalkalaki onwards to Tbilisi, the existing railroad route will be connected to the network expanding to the entire Caucasus.
For the Turkish and Azeri sides, this project is not only an economic project but each has a political goal attached to it. While both countries plan to have access to a huge market of 0 billion, at the same time, they consider cornering Armenia on issues such as occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the alleged "genocide". Also, Georgia plans to become a new transit route to the Caucasus just like Armenia.
Several Kars businessmen insist that the project of the century is the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku Railroad, not the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. This project means an alternative route that would give them access to the outside world.
KC
Our button
print version
