Azerbaijan, Baku, 18 January /corr. Trend E.Huseynov / The construction of the railway line from Nakchivan to Turkey's province of Kars, will help in withdrawing this far region of Azerbaijan from the transport blockade, said the Head of the Turkish province.
Surrounded by Iran, Turkey and Armenia, the Azerbaijan's region of Nakchivan, with the population of 384,500, has been deprived of the railway and car link with Azerbaijan since the beginning of 1990. Earlier the links were carried out via the territory of Armenia, after which a conflict started in 1988. In December 2007, a passenger bus route was opened via the territory of Iran. Before that, the population of Nakchivan could only come to Baku through the air links.
"If the 215km railway stretch from Nakchivan to Kars via the territory of Turkey's Igdir province is constructed, it will revive the transport artery of the Autonomous Republic," the Head of Igdir Municipality, Nureddin Aras, reported to Trend on 17 January.
The agreement on the construction of 105km railway- 'Baku-Tbilisi-Kars' beyond Armenia, was signed at the end of November. The cost of the project is $422mln, but after considering the infrastructure it is assumed that it will be nearly $600mln.
"Nakchivan's center is connected with border of Turkey through Sadarak railway stretch, but later the line breaks off. If this line is extended up to Kars, it will revive the economy of Nakchivan and Igdir. This is a very perspective construction, considering that the railway corridor will connect Baku with the countries of Central Asia, and Kars with the Europe," said the Head of the Municipality.
However, Aras stated that the feasibility study for the Nakchivan-Kars railway project is absent, and it is not worthy to expect support from Turkey for this project because this initiative is not considered in Turkey.
"Earlier, the importance of such project was presented to the Turkish officials, but there was no reaction," Aras said. He considers that Azerbaijan may be more interested in financing the project. "The economic support from the Azerbaijani side would be expedient," he said adding that he is aware of the positive attitude of Nakchivan and Baku, which supports the idea of this construction.
Yet, it was failure to receive the comments in the press-service of Nakchivan and Azerbaijan's Ministry of Transport.
Azerbaijani economist expert, Sabit Bagirov, considers that before speaking about the expediency of the project, it needs to consider its profitability. "If the studies confirm that the profitability is high, it is possible to realize it," the Head of the Center for Political and Economic Studies, Sabit Bagirov, reported to Trend on 18 January. The expert says that it needs to consider this project, from the economic and political point of view.
Of 105km Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway beyond Armenia, 76km passes via the territory of Turkey and 29km via Georgia. Azerbaijan will allocate $200mln credit for the construction of the Georgian section of the railway (for a period of 25 years, with 1% annual rate).
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries appeared in 1988 due to the Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenia has occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani lands including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven neighboring districts. Since 1992 to the present time, these territories have been under Armenian occupation. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a cease-fire agreement which ended the active hostilities. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France and USA) are holding the peaceful negotiations.
Despite the conflict, the air flights 'Baku-Nakchivan' are carried out via the territory of Armenia.