28 Mar 2024
Thursday 27 October 2016 - 14:48
Story Code : 236668

Tehran's 'big lake' claim muddies the waters in Caspian Sea dispute

The unique features of the Caspian Sea has dogged decades of negotiations on the status of the body of water, political scientist Vladimir Sazhin told Sputnik Persian.
This week the 47th Session ofthe Special Working Group (SWG) onthe development ofthe Convention onthe Legal Status ofthe Caspian Sea met inTehran, where deputy foreign ministers ofthe Caspian states discussed a possible agreement onthe Caspian's legal status.

Since 1991, the five Caspian Sea countries have made agreements ona range ofareas including the environment, the protection ofmarine resources, security, co-operation inthe case ofemergency situations and military activities inthe lake. In practice, they have come toagreement regarding the division ofthe water surface intozones ofexploitation. According tothis agreement, the five Caspian countries have the right toexploit marine resources upto 25 miles fromtheir coast. This includes 15 nautical miles which constitutes national waters, plus another ten nautical miles inwhich each state has the exclusive right tofishing. The rest ofthe water is considered international. Political analyst Vladimir Sazhin told Sputnik Persian that while the Caspian Sea countries have made a lot ofprogress onthe issue, a final Convention is still far frombeing agreed. "I will say straightaway that forthe moment the prospect is extremely remote. At the moment the legal framework forthe Caspian Sea is based ontwo agreements signed byIran and the Soviet Union in1921 and 1940," Sazhin said.

"Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, three new littoral states established afterthe collapse ofthe Soviet Union, do not recognize these agreements and are holding discussions aboutthe future status ofthe sea."

"Of course, this is justified because afterall there are now five, not two independent Caspian states, each ofwhich has an equal right tothis sea-lake, onthe basis oftheir geographical location," Sazhin explained. The issue ofwhether the Caspian Sea, the Earth's largest enclosed body ofwater,is actually a lake or a sea is atthe core ofmany ofthe disagreements, sincea lake comes underthe jurisdiction ofthe states alongits shore, and not international law. Iran is convinced that the Caspian is a lake, and its waters and resources should be divided equally five ways. This would give Tehran control over20 percent ofthe water and sea bed. Bilateral treaties signed betweenIran and the USSR also recognized the sea asa lake, giving the two countries the right todivide its resources equally betweenthem. However, Iran's four neighbors inthe Caspian now say that, asreflected byits name, the body ofwater is really a sea. Therefore, they argue, the water and sea bed should be divided according toa modified median line.

A median line runs atan equal distance fromthe states' acknowledged coastlines. A modified median line enables some flexibility incases where sub-sea resources have already been developed, or a field found byone country spills overthe median line.

Russia and Kazakhstan were the first tosign an agreement delineating the sea according tothis principle in1998, and signed a trilateral agreement withAzerbaijan in2003. In 2004 Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan also signed an agrement todefine their territorial waters, which came intoeffect last year. However, the proposal is rejected byTehran sinceits Exclusive Economic Zone would constitute only 13 percent ofthe sea according tothis principle, roughly the same zone it controlled duringthe Soviet Union, and continues toexploit today. Azerbaijan tothe west ofIran and Turkmenistan tothe east reject inturn Tehran's idea, sinceit would deprive them ofsome territorial water and resources. Other issues tobe resolved aroundthe Caspian Sea include navigation, underwater communications and transit, including oil pipelines. Despite the stumbling blocks, all parties are actively engaged indiscussions toresolve these issues. Five sessions ofthe SWG have been held this year alone, one ineach country's capital city.

By Sputnik
https://theiranproject.com/vdcaiinua49nei1.tgk4.html
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