Farewell to Mtkvari!

Rusiko Machaidze, Newspaper “Resonance”

The Mtkvari River will no longer flow through Georgia and in summer, when local use of the Mtkvari’s tributary rivers increases, every bridge in Tbilisi will get “dry”. Azerbaijan will face more problems because the Mingechaur Reservoir will lose the main source.

It is real future picture for Georgia and Azerbaijan if Turkey starts implementation of the project on which they have been working very actively; the President of Georgia and Turkish Prime-Minister have also discussed the issue.

The draft-project aims to construct cascade of hydro-electro stations Beshik Haya on the Mtkvari Source. The main essence of the project is to construct cascade of HES in Turkish province Ardagan where the River Mtkvari outfalls. In order to maximally use the Mtkvari resource, the bed of the river will be changed and it will flow through Turkish territory instead Georgia and will join the Black Sea instead Caspian Sea.

Last week, the member of the Turkish Parliament Delegation from Ardagan province spoke about the project at the parliament of Georgia. Although it was news for the Georgian MPs, the information was not published.

“The Turkish MP told me and members of the parliamentary fraction “Christian-Democrats” during the meeting that the Turkish authority actively discussed the issue nowadays and offered to start cooperative working on the problem because he personally represented the Ardagan province in the Turkish Parliament.

“I guess he is a single mandate member of the Turkish parliament from Ardagan province. As you know, the province borders with Georgia; the Mtkvari River overflows from there. Then the river runs through Georgia and Azerbaijan and finally joins the Caspian Sea.”

“This information was news for me personally and we agreed that at the initial stage we will exchange detailed information. I also intend to send MP question to the government of Georgia about the information they have concerning the project. We will also have active contact with Georgian embassy in Istanbul,” Leader of the Christian-Democrat Party Giorgi Targamadze said.

The Georgian MP said his Turkish colleague shared the information with him in order to jointly address to the problem and hinder project implementation because it will create real threats for Georgia and Azerbaijan as well as the Turkish province.

“It might have serious negative results for Georgia, Azerbaijan and certain regions of Turkey. You know the electricity market in Turkey has problems. They do not have nuclear electro-stations and restricted number of thermo electric power stations. So, their priority is exploration of hydro-resources. The main part of the resource is located in the North-Eastern part of Turkey, close to our border.

“This situation caused the large-scaled Turkish project on the Chorokhi Ravine which created huge ecological problems for Georgia and the Black Sea coast permanently needs serious attendance in order to prevent the Sea to destroy the entire coastline. It might have much graver impact on Georgia if they finally decide to construct the HESs in the Mtkvari Ravine,” said Giorgi Targamadze.

The ecologists think the project is impossible to implement because they think it will cause global disasters.

“Recently I have to make comments on such abnormal things that I will not be surprised if it is also truth. However, it has regional importance and I do not think it will be so easily settled. The Mtkvari River is the main artery for Georgia and it means the country lives on that river. If the Mtkvari disappears, the entire country will face problems. Besides that, the Mtkvari is the main source for the Mingechaur Reservoir and they will also face problems. So, I think implementation of this project will cause international scandal on political level, but on the ecological level it will cause disaster. It will cause serious controversy between the states and not only Georgia but Azerbaijan will also take part in this controversy,” said Gia Gachechiladze, chairman of the Green Party.

Expert Nino Chkhobadze also doubts about the project but said if it is implemented, the project will cause ecological problems and will possibly destroy historical temples in the Southern Georgia.   

“In general, the construction of a dyke on the outflow of the Mtkvari River is very doubtful because it will have serious impact on us. First of all, the dyke, which will change the climate in the area by all means, will damage Vardzia Complex and all other historical temples in the area which is on the list of the UNESCO’s world heritage. It will completely erase our history. In addition to that, it will cause global problems, which will prevent the Mtkvari River to flow across the Georgian territory and to flow into the Mingechaur Reservoir. I resemble this project with the idea to change the river-beds in Siberia and to join them to the Caspian Sea. I cannot make any other comments. If this project is accepted, all our energy-system, which is located on the Mtkvari River, will remain without water. Do you understand what it means? I cannot imagine who could think it over. Of course, technically it is completely possible but the problem is different. It will be global disaster,” said Nino Chkhobadze.

As for the chance of hindering the project, Gia Gachechiladze said the international law can block the project.

“There is UN Convention on the Use of Rivers and we should use the Convention to block the project. But, I do not think they seriously think about the project. I rather think it is a one of usual decisions of Turkey to bargain with Georgia and Azerbaijan on some other issues. If the Mtkvari stops running through Georgia, it will be considered as Turkey’s declaration of war against Georgia and Azerbaijan. It might cause serious regional conflict,” said Gachechiladze.

However, Nino Chkhobadze said “there is Helsinki Convention on the Use of Rivers and Lakes but unfortunately neither Turkey nor Georgia have ratified it.”

Giorgi Targamadze from the Christian Democrats thinks the agreement between the Soviet Union and Turkey in 1928 is the most optimal solution for the problem. “Of course, when settling the issue Georgia’s interest shall be envisaged and 1928 agreement shall become basis for it which was signed between the SO and Turkey and according to which the Mtkvari River is common property of the two states [SO and Turkey]. Nowadays, Georgia and Azerbaijan are lawful heirs of the SO in this issue so similar large-scaled projects cannot be implemented regarding the Mtkvari River without having agreed them with Azerbaijan and Georgia. I do not want to make any comments and statements in advance because we will have more information in near future both from Turkish and Georgian authorities and relatively we will update the media with more detailed information.”

It is interesting that representative of the parliamentary majority and chair of the parliamentary committee of self-government and regional policy Vakhtang Balavadze confirmed the information. However, he said the facilitation of the cooperation between the parliaments of the two states was more important issue than the Mtkvari River problem during their meeting with the MPs of Turkish Parliament.

“The main issue of our discussion was facilitation of our parliamentary cooperation. As for the issue you are speaking about, was mentioned among other many issues. They said they plan similar construction but the government of Georgia conducted negotiations about the issue and as a result, the HES will be constructed on the Georgian territory instead. This point was discussed during our meeting with Turkish MPs and we all agreed that good decision was made,” said Vakhtang Balavadze.

He added that “the initial project aimed to construct the dyke on the Turkish side and now the authorities are negotiating to construct it on our side. Turkey will design and implement the project with its own funds.”

As for the question, why Georgia accepted the second variant, he said “construction of the dyke on the Turkish territory could cause some problems. I mean landscape and damage to the Mtkvari River. We will have faced problem of rivers and the bed would have been changed. This project was a very complicated construction so they decided to construct the dyke on our territory.”

However, Balavadze cannot say when the project implementation will start.