Turkmenistan to sue Azerbaijan at the international court over the
Caspian Sea
25.07.2009 15:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov
ordered to address the international experts and high-degree lawyers
to learn the Azerbaijan’s claims over the disputed fields in the
Caspian Sea and legality of the foreign oil-gas companies’ operation
in those fields and then to send the documents to the International
Court of Arbitration.
According to APA, the president ordered to the vice prime minister and
foreign minister Rashid Meredov to address this issue. Chairman of the
State Office for the Caspian Issues under the President Toyli Komekov
informed the cabinet about the results of Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan
negotiations over the sharing of Caspian depth and resources held in
Baku on July 15-17.
The cabinet noted that despite the Turkmenistan’s efforts no consensus
was reached on this issue because of disputes between Azerbaijan and
Turkmenistan over the oil-gas fields in the central part of the
Caspian Sea. After hearing the report, President Berdymuhamedov said
that the Caspian problems, concretely the coordination of the
principles of Caspian delimitation, sharing of its depth and resources
were urgent issues for the country.
Touching upon the history of the negotiations, the president said
special position of Azerbaijan, which claimed to the disputed fields
of Omer and Osman, as well as Sardar, called before as `Araliq’,
delayed the decision agreed by both sides. He said normative acts
approved by the relevant ministries and offices in the USSR period
showed these fields within the territory of Turkmenistan. `Such
unilateral actions in the Caspian, particularly exploration of the
fields without the agreement of the interested parts are unacceptable
for Turkmenistan. Based on the principles of the international
cooperation, Turkmenistan brought the disputed territories on the
agenda of the Turkmen-Azerbaijani negotiations, but there was no
agreement. The existent situation is delaying the exploitation of the
natural resources of the Turkmen shelf of the Caspian, implementation
of the important programs for the economic development of the region
and protection of the environmental welfare of the sea and coastal
areas’.
The president stated that Turkmenistan doesn’t claim to the territory
of anyone and always supports fair sharing and delimitation of the
legal and sea borders of the unique lake according to the
international experience, APA reports.