“We have to take advantage of the created situation”
Minister of Transport of Azerbaijan Zia Mammedov recently said the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was ready for exploitation and would be exploited next year.
"We have to accept the fact that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project turned into a large-scale regional project after Azerbaijan joined. It is a fact, whether we like it or not," this was the comment on the created situation stated in the message disseminated by President of "Javakhk" Foundation Stepan Margaryan, who is on the Prosperous Armenia Party's (BHK) parliamentary list for the upcoming elections.
According to Margaryan, the implementation of this project is a rather serious event for the region and will change the entire logic of transport and communication. "Of course, it is sad that Georgia was the junction and not Armenia, but in these conditions, we have to be able to get all that we can from the created situation as well. We have to work on schemes for transferring cargo and passengers in a way that we benefit as much as we can from the railway. It will give us the opportunity to transfer our cargo to any European country and back."
As for the Kars-Gyumri railway, which remains closed, it is tremendously significant in terms of economy, but "it is clear that re-exploitation depends on the solution of political issues". "No matter how strange it may seem, it is very likely that the exploitation of the newly built railway will also contribute to the reopening of the Gyumri-Kars railway."
