"VIRK" PARTY ATTRIBUTES LAYING BAKU-TBILISI-CEYHAN OIL PIPELINE THROUGH BORJOMI GORGE TO NEAR DISLOCATION OF RUSSIAN MILITARY BASE

PanARMENIAN.Net - When determining the route of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline the project directors took into account the dislocation of the Russian military base in the territory of the Akhalkalaki region of Georgia. As reported by "Mediamax" agency, leader of "Virk" party, functioning in Samtskhe-Javakhetia Georgian region populated by Armenians, Davit Rstakian stated it adding that due to that reason a decision was made to lay the oil pipeline Georgian segment through Borjomi gorge. In his words, the protest lodged by the residents on laying the pipeline through their territory is conditioned by general uncertainty of the situation, as the region population is in an information vacuum. "No one has presented the ecological consequences of the oil pipeline construction to the people and what compensation is due to them for that," - Rstakian stressed. He noted that the situation in Samtskhe-Javakhetia was being purposefully exacerbated by certain forces not interested in securing stability in the region and the statements about separatist moods of Armenians living there were fictitious.