Turkmenistan's plans to establish military base on Caspian Sea point to upcoming serious talks: expert

"The Turkmen President's last statements testify that he tries to strengthen his negotiating position with either Europe or Russia or Azerbaijan. These statements are strong signals addressed to the world. As a rule, it is made on the eve of serious talks," Mursaliyev said.

Speaking at an expanded Security Council meeting, the President stressed that Turkmenistan, along with land borders also has a long maritime border, which must be carefully guarded, Turkmen television reported.

Berdimuhammedov instructed the heads of military and law enforcement ministries and departments "to effectively combat the smugglers, terrorists, and any other forces which will attempt to violate the state maritime border of Turkmenistan, or to create an unstable situation there."

Turkmenistan has not yet defined the Caspian Sea borders  with other states. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia have no claims to one another as to dividing the bottom of the Caspian Sea.

There are both bilateral and trilateral agreements between these countries. The parties have also agreed to determine the coordinates of the median line. The issue is yet to be agreed with just two countries - Turkmenistan and Iran - due to which the status of the Caspian Sea has not yet been defined so far.

Azerbaijan was the first the Caspian Sea country to begin to set the limits of the world's largest lake and define the limits of control over it. First, Azerbaijan announced the accessibility of its sector of the Caspian Sea on on Sept. 20 in 1994 by signing an international contract ("The Contract of the Century") with Western companies on a PSA model - production sharing agreement. This has also been reflected in the Basic Law of Azerbaijan dated 1995.

The idea to establish the Turkmen military base on the shores of the Caspian Sea is not new. The intention of the current authorities does not mean anything, but it indicates to the mood and a certain tendency, Mursaliyev said.

"If we take into account that Turkmenistan has recently announced about its intention to appeal to the international court of arbitrage, the current statement in the same direction reinforces the previous one," Mursaliyev said.

He said that it must demonstrate the seriousness of Turkmen intentions, but the probability of military conflicts at the Caspian Sea between Turkmenistan and its neighbors is very low.

The delimitation of borders of the Caspian Sea even without this statement is unlikely to be solved in the five-lateral format, Mursaliyev said.

He said that a system error was initially made when Tehran was involved to divide the Caspian Sea. Iran has nothing to do with this problem, Mursaliyev said.

"It deals with only division of the borders after the collapse of the Soviet Union."

"But after Iran was involved, it became clear that the scheme suitable to all, does not exist," Mursaliyev said.

"It will be found only if one of the parties voluntarily gives in its territory. But nobody is going to do this," he said.

/Trend News/