26 May 2007, 18:31
Azerbaijan will get connected with Nakhichevan by railway via Turkey
Azerbaijan is negotiating with Turkey on construction of a branch line from the basic Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway. The branch will run to the Turkish city of Igdyr and further to the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic (NAR). President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev made the respective statement when speaking at the opening ceremony of the Memorial to the Azerbaijan National Republic of 1918-1920.
According to Aliev, the above project "will ensure the railway communication between Baku and Nakhichevan and bring the republic out of the blockade," where it had found itself since the end of 1988 because of the Karabakh conflict.
The "Caucasian Knot" has already informed that the package of agreements connected with the implementation of the BTK project was signed on April 8, 2007, in Tbilisi. The project envisages construction of a new 105-kilometre railway section (76 km in the territory of Turkey, and 29 km in Georgia).
Author: Zaur Rasulzade, CK correspondent
