Ashgabat means half of Absheron peninsula must be passed on to Turkmenistan: political expert

Day.Az: How do you assess the second statement by Turkmenistan which includes claim to a portion of the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea?

Rustam Mammadov: The point is that there are no skilled experts in this field in Turkmenistan today.

I believe the statement by Turkmenistan is compatible with neither any international legal practice of states, nor with the theory of international law, nor even with the usual logic because it ignoress geographical science and just the basic facts relating to the origin and formation of states.

That is, it shows that Turkmenistan has unskilled personnel who do not know the real situation. Most likely, they just received order from the president and they immediately sat down and did not find anything better than to repeat old mistakes. In fact, the same position Ashgabat declared even a decade ago.

Q: What can you say about principal points of Turkmen vision for median delineation of the sea?

A: I know that this practice which could ignore existence of islands and peninsulas has never been used worldwide with regard to lakes or seas. Secondly, with respect to the median line, it represents the median line, which runs at equal distances from the shorelines of adjacent states. That is, central points are identified on which border lines are set, so the parties get so much sea as defined by very nature and geography. Ignoring the Absheron Peninsula and Chilov Island means that Turkmenistan has ignored the median line.

It turns out that now Ashgabat proposes Azerbaijan to divide the sector on latitudinal basis. But, if so, then our line of latitude will be located somewhere in the sea coast of Garadagh district. So, if we agree to act in such a strange method, the result will be that the Absheron peninsula in half falls into the territory of Turkmenistan not to mention the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli fields. But this version of delimitation has long been outdated.

Because worldwide practice of developed countries shows that when you set marine boundaries, they always take heir shorelines with their curves, entrances and exits to the land inside the sea as a basis for determining the median line. After all I hope  Turkmenistan does not think that all these countries are just stupid. Under a global approach, about 67 percent of Kapaz field accounts for Azerbaijan’s territory.

Regarding possibility of delimitation on a contractual basis, it never happened between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. The only thing that during soviet times Kapaz was in Azerbaijan’s water area under applicable border between soviet countries. Despite this, there was even inter-Union administrative boundaries determined entirely in accordance with international practice.

Q: Why did Ashgabat decide to voice their demands precisely this time while knowing that Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli has been developed by Azerbaijan for a long time?

A: Today Turkmenistan is playing geo-political game. And not its and others'. This game is aimed at undermining relations between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan in order to break down the idea of Nabucco. Their non-participation in the Nabucco they want to justify by alleged incorrect attitude to the issue of delimitation by Azerbaijan. I believe that this approach has no equals in the world and has no right to life. Of course, if in fact we have to argue and sue in international courts, and I think Azerbaijan’s position with some training could easily break the Turkmen version and justify its own right.

/Day.Az/