Tweet
STRATEGIC "LAKE": CASPIAN WORKING GROUP DEBATE IMPORTANT FOR ARMENIA TOO
By Aris Ghazinyan
ArmeniaNow
22.11.11 | 13:52
Map: www.wikipedia.org
Armenia is not represented at the Tuesday-Wednesday working group
in Kazakhstan, where the legal status of the Caspian Sea is being
discussed, but the issue is of great significance to Hayastan.
The issue of the Caspian basin is important to Armenia, as it
determines the volume of Azerbaijan's oil-gas recourses. In accordance
with Heydar Aliyev's "Oil Strategy" the development of Azerbaijan
is conditioned by the development of its oil industry. In the 1990s,
the Azeri leadership promised to turn Azerbaijan into "Kuwait of the
21st century".
Baku authorities say the country's oil industry would pump enough
money into the war machine to settle the Karabakh issue through
military might.
Prior to the session (attended by the host, Turkmenistan, Iran, Russia,
Azerbaijan) Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Ryabkov stated:
"The legal status of the Caspian is a rather complicated issue,
considering the fact that throughout the history of our state it has
been regulated by Soviet-Iranian agreements."
Before the collapse of the USSR the Caspian Sea was "Soviet-Iranian
inner basin" and all its oil and gas deposits were used in compliance
with bilateral agreements signed between Moscow and Tehran in the
first half of the 20th century. However, the collapse of the USSR
lead to the emergence of new states along the basin's perimeter,
and now besides Tehran and Moscow there are three others - Astana,
Ashkhabad and Baku - claming their rights to the deposits and the
water area in general.
The main matter of dispute is the Caspian's political status; some
geographic truths are cardinally reconsidered out of political
priorities. For example, from the geographic viewpoint Armenia,
Georgia and Azerbaijan are located in Asia; however, politically they
are part of Europe and are members of the European Council.
>From the perspective of classical geography, the Caspian is a lake
(because it has no direct access to the World oceans), however its
political status is a matter of constant disputes among the five
coastal countries.
The essence of the dispute is as follows: if the water basin is
recognized as a "lake", concepts of International Marine Rights such as
"exclusive economic zone", "continental offshore area", and others,
will no more be applicable.
Many oil and gas deposits are exploited in the Caspian Sea. Oil
resources there make 10 billion tons; in total oil and gas reserves
make an estimated 18-20 billion tons. It is this wealth that the
countries are fighting for and, naturally, fierce arguments ensue.
Azeri political analyst Zardusht Alizade says: "We have a matter
of discord with Turkmenistan - the deposit Kyapaz [mountain]. It's
closer to the border of Turkmenistan, but Azerbaijan claims its border
starts not from the coastline but the islands that are farther away,
and this causes controversies."
Azerbaijan and Iran have some issues too. Alizade stresses in this
connection: "Iran believes that the division of the Caspian should
be done by sectors, rather than by Turkmenistan's border check-point
line. In that case, Iran's sector increases from 13 to 20 percent and
wedges in the sector that was believed to be Azeri. And Azerbaijan
disagrees."
The peculiarity of the situation is in the fact that as opposed to
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia and Iran, which possess extensive
reserves of fuel deposits, in case with Azerbaijan the main resources
from the coastline were used and almost exhausted during Soviet times.
Despite the fact that a decade ago by official estimates of Natik
Aliyev, president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, the Azeri
Caspian sector had 4-10 billion tons of oil, independent experts
later stressed that the real reserves of oil there were ten times
less. And besides, until the water basin's status is defined, it is
not clear what exactly the so-called "Azeri sector of the Caspian" is.
Prior to the negotiations Azeri newspaper Echo wrote: "In the
issue of determining the Caspian's legal status, Russia did not
support Azerbaijan, but only settled its issues with Kazakhstan
and Azerbaijan. Russia does not have lines of contact with Iran and
Turkmenistan, hence Azerbaijan is now alone against Iran."
Experts predict that if Azerbaijan fails to protect its interests
related to the status of the Caspian Sea, it will exhaust its oil
resources in a few years' time and will have no grounds to continue
talking about its economic superiority over Armenia.
From: A. Papazian
By Aris Ghazinyan
ArmeniaNow
22.11.11 | 13:52
Map: www.wikipedia.org
Armenia is not represented at the Tuesday-Wednesday working group
in Kazakhstan, where the legal status of the Caspian Sea is being
discussed, but the issue is of great significance to Hayastan.
The issue of the Caspian basin is important to Armenia, as it
determines the volume of Azerbaijan's oil-gas recourses. In accordance
with Heydar Aliyev's "Oil Strategy" the development of Azerbaijan
is conditioned by the development of its oil industry. In the 1990s,
the Azeri leadership promised to turn Azerbaijan into "Kuwait of the
21st century".
Baku authorities say the country's oil industry would pump enough
money into the war machine to settle the Karabakh issue through
military might.
Prior to the session (attended by the host, Turkmenistan, Iran, Russia,
Azerbaijan) Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Ryabkov stated:
"The legal status of the Caspian is a rather complicated issue,
considering the fact that throughout the history of our state it has
been regulated by Soviet-Iranian agreements."
Before the collapse of the USSR the Caspian Sea was "Soviet-Iranian
inner basin" and all its oil and gas deposits were used in compliance
with bilateral agreements signed between Moscow and Tehran in the
first half of the 20th century. However, the collapse of the USSR
lead to the emergence of new states along the basin's perimeter,
and now besides Tehran and Moscow there are three others - Astana,
Ashkhabad and Baku - claming their rights to the deposits and the
water area in general.
The main matter of dispute is the Caspian's political status; some
geographic truths are cardinally reconsidered out of political
priorities. For example, from the geographic viewpoint Armenia,
Georgia and Azerbaijan are located in Asia; however, politically they
are part of Europe and are members of the European Council.
>From the perspective of classical geography, the Caspian is a lake
(because it has no direct access to the World oceans), however its
political status is a matter of constant disputes among the five
coastal countries.
The essence of the dispute is as follows: if the water basin is
recognized as a "lake", concepts of International Marine Rights such as
"exclusive economic zone", "continental offshore area", and others,
will no more be applicable.
Many oil and gas deposits are exploited in the Caspian Sea. Oil
resources there make 10 billion tons; in total oil and gas reserves
make an estimated 18-20 billion tons. It is this wealth that the
countries are fighting for and, naturally, fierce arguments ensue.
Azeri political analyst Zardusht Alizade says: "We have a matter
of discord with Turkmenistan - the deposit Kyapaz [mountain]. It's
closer to the border of Turkmenistan, but Azerbaijan claims its border
starts not from the coastline but the islands that are farther away,
and this causes controversies."
Azerbaijan and Iran have some issues too. Alizade stresses in this
connection: "Iran believes that the division of the Caspian should
be done by sectors, rather than by Turkmenistan's border check-point
line. In that case, Iran's sector increases from 13 to 20 percent and
wedges in the sector that was believed to be Azeri. And Azerbaijan
disagrees."
The peculiarity of the situation is in the fact that as opposed to
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia and Iran, which possess extensive
reserves of fuel deposits, in case with Azerbaijan the main resources
from the coastline were used and almost exhausted during Soviet times.
Despite the fact that a decade ago by official estimates of Natik
Aliyev, president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, the Azeri
Caspian sector had 4-10 billion tons of oil, independent experts
later stressed that the real reserves of oil there were ten times
less. And besides, until the water basin's status is defined, it is
not clear what exactly the so-called "Azeri sector of the Caspian" is.
Prior to the negotiations Azeri newspaper Echo wrote: "In the
issue of determining the Caspian's legal status, Russia did not
support Azerbaijan, but only settled its issues with Kazakhstan
and Azerbaijan. Russia does not have lines of contact with Iran and
Turkmenistan, hence Azerbaijan is now alone against Iran."
Experts predict that if Azerbaijan fails to protect its interests
related to the status of the Caspian Sea, it will exhaust its oil
resources in a few years' time and will have no grounds to continue
talking about its economic superiority over Armenia.
From: A. Papazian