Armenia's aggression policy makes it unattractive as transit country
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Armenian media reports have intensified their focus on the counrty's isolation from the rest of the world. Despite the fact that this problem is as old as the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani lands. Economic isolation of Armenia is a result of the Yerevan’s aggressive policy, and it will be possible to solve only with the disappearance of the root cause.
Some Armenian media have published information about a hypothetical Kazakh grain for Armenia, which Azerbaijan will not allow to transit.
Wheat imports remain a big trouble for Armenia. The country buys grain only from Russia. Until the mid-2018, grain was transported by wagons through the Upper Lars checkpoint on the Georgian-Russian border, and from there to Armenia.
However, the Georgian government decided to ban the transportation of corn and wheat through Georgia to Armenia by road. The ban will be valid until October 1, 2019.
Georgian authorities explain the reason for the ban by adverse weather conditions and natural disasters. Last summer, many kilometers of traffic jams created problems for the Georgian tourism sector. As a result, hundreds of Russian tourists could not enter Georgia. Wishing to reduce these losses, the government decided to ban wagons with grain for Armenia to cross the checkpoint. Armenian importers were offered to use the ferry service, which is much more expensive.
Since then, Armenia and Georgia have periodically returned to this topic, but without any successful result for the Armenian side. Moreover, restrictions on the cargo weight were introduced for Armenian trucks - no more than 40 tons.
After reaching an agreement on Kazakh wheat, Armenians were inspired and began to consider the possibility of using this fact to solve the country's threatening food security problem.
However, the prospect of grain supplies from Kazakhstan to Armenia is theoretically possible in two ways. The first one is closed for Armenia because it runs through Azerbaijan. The second is through Russia, which is too expensive. For this reason, Armenian trader-carriers are limited to supplies of Russian wheat to the domestic market.
It is noteworthy that the most convenient and cheapest way through Azerbaijan is closed for Armenia. This situation arose not because of the lack of diplomatic relations as some Armenian businessmen want to present, but because of the Armenian aggressive policy towards Azerbaijan.
For the same reason, there is an agreement between Azerbaijan and Georgia, according to which the latter cannot supply or resell goods transported through Azerbaijan territory to Armenia. It would be nonsense if Azerbaijan, which suffered from the Armenian aggression, undertook to make life easier for neighbor occupying its territory.
In this case, Kazakh wheat for Georgia will be transported by the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. The new railway corridor has created many additional opportunities for region countries. These opportunities passed only by Armenia. Before BTK commissioning, Armenia dreamt about plans to join the Georgian section of the highway. Yerevan believed that has the right to this in view of the partnership with Georgia. But Georgian side explained that the railway was built with Azerbaijani money and Baku will not allow Armenia to join the railway corridor.
Armenia begins to understand that practically nothing can be solved in the region bypassing Azerbaijan, and Baku is present in all projects and solutions. If Yerevan pursued a wise policy for the benefit of its people, if the new authorities refused to continue the aggression policy and withdraw troops from occupied Karabakh, Armenia would have its place in the railway corridor project.
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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
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