Dzhavakhetia: Sense victory over nationalism

Recently a powerful explosion happened in the Georgian region of Samtskhe-Dzhavakheti, populated by Armenians. It was so powerful that the blast wave was felt even in one of the most distant villages in Georgia, Chunchkha. However, the explosion didn’t cause searching for political reasons and tension in the region. The explosion happened due to peaceful reasons: a foundation pit was blasted and a foundation of Akhalkalaki railway station was established. It is one of the most important facilities in the strategic railroad Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki-Kars-Istanbul.

The minister of regional development and infrastructure of Georgia Ramzan Nikolaishvili and the head of Azer Road Service Dzhavid Gurbanov watched the blast. They met railway workers, who are local Armenians.

According to Nikolaishvili, the project of construction of the railway spur Marabda-Tetritskaro-Tsalka-Akhalkalaki-Kartsakh is implemented in three stages. The 29 km part Mrabda-Tetritskaro has been built; rehabilitation of the Nine Brothers railway station has been completed; Kirbulakh Railway Bridge is under construction; soon the railway station in Kartsakh will be constructed.

The Georgian minister emphasized establishing of new working places for local, Armenian, population.

The project, which is important for the whole region from the strategic point of view, is financed by Azerbaijan, which invested about $500 million into it. Several years ago, when the railroad project was developing, there were ideas that it would face obstacles in Dzhavakheti. But obvious economic benefits and peaceful character of the project contributed to development of the project.

In recent years Azerbaijan and Georgia have implemented several communication projects, including oil pipelines Baku-Tbilisi-Supsa, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and the gas pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Erzrum. But the railroad is even more important, as it also contributes to people communication: it provides not only transportation of cargos, but also transportation of people by comfortable and cheap transport.

The minister of transport of Azerbaijan Zia Mamedov stated that construction of the railroad is planned to be built this year, and the next year the railroad starts its operating. At the moment negotiations on importing new trains are being held with Spain.

The railroad will be the most significant factor of economic development of the region. It will connect even non-regional states – countries of the Central Asia and China are interested in it. According to experts, railway transport is acute and useful due to fuel prices growing.

Moreover, Tbilisi considers “the syndrome of Akhalkalaki station” as confirmation of right approach to settlement of Dzhavalheti problem by the Georgian authorities. The conflictologist Paata Zakareshvili told VK that “if the Georgian state will firmly stand on its feet, provide various economic and infrastructural projects together with its partners, establish working places and cause pragmatic interest of local population, nobody could destabilize the situation in the region. Foreign forces and certain influence groups have tried and will try to influence the situation, but the point is the state should be at the top. As for Armenia, it needs stable and good relations with Georgia, because Armenia is not interested in destabilization of the situation. However, I admit there are some forces, which have a different opinion.”

Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to VK