108
Iran and Turkmenistan have followed different directions, although they and the
other three states seem to have, by agreement, agreed to the joint use of the sea for
shipping and fishing, if not as yet use of the seabed. Iran’s major concern about
prospects may be negligible in its 13–14% share of the Sea according to median line
division. Iran has expressed that in any future five-country agreement, each littoral
state should receive a 20% equal share (Babali 2006:82). The larger Iranian share in
the Sea would reduce Turkmenistan’s and Azerbaijan’s portions, a prospect neither
country accepts. At present, Iran favors a “just” solution and seems to be learning
toward national sectors, but at the same time argues that its sector is too small. By
2001, Iran sent gunboats to drive off a geophysical vessel working at the Alov Field
in water which Iran and Azerbaijan claim (Babali 2006:82). In May 2003,
Kazakhstan and Russia signed an agreement about a joint boundary dividing their
share in the north Caspian Sea according to the adjusted median line principle
(Babali 2006:82).
As Bobert Ebel and Rajan Menon have mentioned that Kazakhstan and
Azerbaijan have argued that the Sea should be delighted under Article UNCLOS
(UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982), which defines a semi-enclosed or
enclosed sea as “a gulf or sea surrounded by two or more states and connected to
another sea or ocean by a narrow outlet or consisting entirely or primary of the territorial seas and exclusive economic zones of two or more coastal states.” Under
such definition of the Caspian would be enveloped by the recent qualification. There
are criteria for dividing large lake among two or more states (e.g., Lake Victoria,
Great lakes of North America, and Lake Titicaca) (Ebel and Menon 2000:148).
Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have had two causes of tension over the Caspian’s
legal status: First, a debt believed to be owed to Turkmenistan by Azerbaijan for
natural gas supplies which were delivered in the early 1990s (In 2008, this was
resolved when Azerbaijan paid the $44.8 million to Turkmenistan), and secondly,
conflict over oilfields in the debated territory. The oilfield in question is breach
across the MML. Two of the fields, Azeri/Omer and Chirag/Osman are part of huge
ACG field, which lies not far off the coast from Absheron of Azerbaijan (Montgomery
2012:193).
The Final “Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea”
By August 2018, the leaders of the Caspian Sea countries signed a convention on
the Caspian Sea legal regime at a meeting in Kazakhstan. The Protocol on
Cooperation in the Field of Counter-Terrorism in the Caspian Sea, the Protocol on
Cooperation in Combating Organized Crime in the Sea, the Agreement between the
Governments of the Caspian Sea Region on Economic Cooperation, the Agreement
between the Government of the Coastal States on Transport, the Agreement on the
Prevention of Corruption, the events in the Caspian Sea and the Protocol on
Cooperation and Interaction of the Border Authorities of the Caspian Sea countries
were among the documents signed by these countries (www.bbc.com 2018).
3 International Context of the New Era and the Caspian Sea Region
Iran and Turkmenistan have followed different directions, although they and the
other three states seem to have, by agreement, agreed to the joint use of the sea for
shipping and fishing, if not as yet use of the seabed. Iran’s major concern about
prospects may be negligible in its 13–14% share of the Sea according to median line
division. Iran has expressed that in any future five-country agreement, each littoral
state should receive a 20% equal share (Babali 2006:82). The larger Iranian share in
the Sea would reduce Turkmenistan’s and Azerbaijan’s portions, a prospect neither
country accepts. At present, Iran favors a “just” solution and seems to be learning
toward national sectors, but at the same time argues that its sector is too small. By
2001, Iran sent gunboats to drive off a geophysical vessel working at the Alov Field
in water which Iran and Azerbaijan claim (Babali 2006:82). In May 2003,
Kazakhstan and Russia signed an agreement about a joint boundary dividing their
share in the north Caspian Sea according to the adjusted median line principle
(Babali 2006:82).
As Bobert Ebel and Rajan Menon have mentioned that Kazakhstan and
Azerbaijan have argued that the Sea should be delighted under Article UNCLOS
(UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982), which defines a semi-enclosed or
enclosed sea as “a gulf or sea surrounded by two or more states and connected to
another sea or ocean by a narrow outlet or consisting entirely or primary of the territorial seas and exclusive economic zones of two or more coastal states.” Under
such definition of the Caspian would be enveloped by the recent qualification. There
are criteria for dividing large lake among two or more states (e.g., Lake Victoria,
Great lakes of North America, and Lake Titicaca) (Ebel and Menon 2000:148).
Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have had two causes of tension over the Caspian’s
legal status: First, a debt believed to be owed to Turkmenistan by Azerbaijan for
natural gas supplies which were delivered in the early 1990s (In 2008, this was
resolved when Azerbaijan paid the $44.8 million to Turkmenistan), and secondly,
conflict over oilfields in the debated territory. The oilfield in question is breach
across the MML. Two of the fields, Azeri/Omer and Chirag/Osman are part of huge
ACG field, which lies not far off the coast from Absheron of Azerbaijan (Montgomery
2012:193).
The Final “Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea”
By August 2018, the leaders of the Caspian Sea countries signed a convention on
the Caspian Sea legal regime at a meeting in Kazakhstan. The Protocol on
Cooperation in the Field of Counter-Terrorism in the Caspian Sea, the Protocol on
Cooperation in Combating Organized Crime in the Sea, the Agreement between the
Governments of the Caspian Sea Region on Economic Cooperation, the Agreement
between the Government of the Coastal States on Transport, the Agreement on the
Prevention of Corruption, the events in the Caspian Sea and the Protocol on
Cooperation and Interaction of the Border Authorities of the Caspian Sea countries
were among the documents signed by these countries (www.bbc.com 2018).
3 International Context of the New Era and the Caspian Sea Region