Saakashvili lets Armenia become part of S. Caucasus?

May 7, 2013 - 21:07 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili regrets "the inability for thousands of Georgian and Azeri citizens to return to their homes for certain political reasons."

As the Georgian leader further noted at a Baku-hosted forum, “I hope, the South Caucasus will become a unified region in future, with a possibility for Armenia to join it. This, however, should happen as a part of political liberalization, rather than through the opening of a railway to Georgia and Kars-Akhalkalaki project.”

He also urged for a change in Azerbaijan’s foreign policy. “The world must not allow for destabilization of this country. Azerbaijan is a successful state and we hope it will keep being one,” Saakashvili said.

It’s worth noting here that Armenia is a South Caucasus state, regardless of Saakashvili’s flawed knowledge of geography. Clearly, the Georgian leader is in a frenetic search of an ally and country to give him a refuge, should political events in Georgia take an unexpected turn. This is the only context the glorification of Baku must be viewed in, and surely, Azeri leader Ilham Aliyev realizes that.

The danger lies in a different fact - Georgia may be turned into a springboard for Azerbaijan, should Baku-based hotheads start hostilities against Nagornao Karabakh and Armenia. So Saakashvili would be well advised to think before he sings praises of Aliev regime, which has already succeeded in scaring off Europe despite Azeri petrodollars.

Even late Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who didn’t like Armenians much, never spoke such absurdities. And by the way, it was Armenia who eventually gave him refuge after his downfall. And Saakashvili had better remember this.