Tuesday, January 14 2014

During a
conference in Yerevan, one of the Russian experts said in your presence that
Russia would very soon “get direct communication with Armenia by taking up the
matter of the South Ossetian borders with Georgia”. To what extent do such
statements meet the recent trends in the Georgian-Russian relations?  

 Unfortunately, such
statements are made quite often. In practice, however, such projects are
unexecutable. Therefore, it would be wrong to comment on them. In fact, the
Georgian-Russian relations are gradually improving.

 According to
International Alert’s survey, the restoration of the Abkhazian railway will
require $277.5 mln, which will pay off no in some 100 years. It is noteworthy
that according to the official conclusions of Abkhazian experts, $350-400mln is
needed, whereas Georgian experts think that the project will require no more
than  $73 mln. What is your opinion about
that? 

 I
think we can spend $30 million needed for
restoration of the Abkhazian railway section controlled by Georgia. In fact,
according to the survey of International Alert, restoration of the railway
through Ankhazia will bring no benefit. On the other hand, the project will be
undoubtedly a positive one in the political sense, from the point of view of
establishment of both Georgia-Abkhazia relations and Georgia-Russia relations.
The government of Georgia has expressed readiness to discuss the issue on
opening of the Abkhazian section of the railway. However, we still have no
strict response of the Russian government on the matter. Meanwhile, as Russian
experts say, Russia is very much interested in opening of the railway, but the
government is still silent. As far as I know, our proposal was welcomed in
Yerevan. But Abkhazia has certain concerns in the matter.

 Many people in
Georgia blamed the former president Mikheil Saakashvili for his excessively
pro-Turkish policy running counter to the Georgians’ interests. What trends do
you observe in the Turkish vector of the new authorities’ policy?  

 In Tbilisi they take the partnership with
Ankara as part of the European integration, as the new authorities of Georgia
still seek integration with the West. Europe and USA are very important actors
for Turks. Western sales markets are also important for Ankara. In this light,
both Georgia and Tbilisi look at the West. It is important that we consider
Turkey as a strategically important, serious economic partner. The transit gas
and oil pipelines stretching along our territories give us a brilliant
opportunity to have ties and, hence, relations with Europe. Many Turks live and
have their own business in Tbilisi. In small Adjara their number has reached
25,000 people, which is a big percentage of the total population. At the same
time, I am sure that the Georgians will be able to digest the number of Turks
in case of a policy meeting the interests of the vast majority of the
population of Georgia.

 For the moment,
nearly 400,000 people live in Adjara, and 25% of them are Muslims. Around
40,000 Turkish citizens are at the same time citizens of Georgia due to
Turkey’s economic expansion in Georgia and, first and foremost, in Adjara. Are
the 0.5 mln Georgian Muslims a problem from the political point of view?     

 Indeed, almost 15% of the Georgian
population is Muslims. However, they are not a political factor given their
factionalism and low integration into the public and political life of Georgia.
Muslims of Georgia are divided into different groups, religious currents. They
are low educated and practically do not speak Georgian, staying aside from the
public life in Georgia. Therefore, we do not take Turkey's activity as an
expansion, despite regular statements of some experts on quite opposite trends.