What Should We Do about the Caspian Sea in Tehran Summit

As the President of Islamic Republic of Iran has announced, Caspian-bordering countries’ summit is going to be held on 16th of October 2007 in Tehran. Mr. Ahmadinejhad has hoped that problems over Caspian Sea -which is the Sea of Friendship-, will be solved through negotiations.
Although important since a long time ago for the people residing on its coast who make a living from its aquatics and use it for transportation, the Caspian Sea has become much more important in recent centuries.
From the beginning of the first war between Iran and Russia in 1813 to the friendship treaty between Iran and USSR in 1921, followed up by sailing and trade agreement between Iran and USSR in 1940 and Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991, Iranians have always concerned the quality of using the world’s biggest lake. In the recent years the attention of Iranian decision-makers towards the Caspian Sea has focused and wandered depending on global issues.
Now we’re in a situation that Middle East developments and economical growth of Asian giants such as India and China have become important. Consequently the Caspian Sea has lost its importance for the world media and foreign policy administrators in Iran. At the onset of Caspian-bordering countries’ summit it seems as a good opportunity to provide for multilateral discussions on the Caspian Sea. In this article first we will look at the process of developments in the Caspian Sea, then we move on to Caspian Sea’s legal regime and finally we’ll put forward suggestions for the summit’s agenda.
History of the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea, the world’s largest landlocked lake has a length of 1204 kilometers from north to south, an average width of 320 kilometers and a circumference of 6500 kilometers. Its area is 376000 kilometers and its 28 meters lower than the sea-level. Most of its points have a shallow depth but in the Iranian part the depth reaches 1000 kilometers.
Although this sea or lake has been called with different names, but what is definite is that since a long time ago Iranians used the sea for transportation. The sea has also been a location for the people residing near the coast to make a living and use the aquatics.
Except the period between Treaty of Turkmenchay between Iran and Russia in 1828 and Friendship Treaty between Iran and USSR in 1921 that to some extent limited Iranians’ access to the sea, Iran’s governments and people used the Caspian Sea exclusively or commonly with the Tsarist Russia, USSR or the Russian Federation. Although some experts believe that this sea has not had any importance for Iranians, but that can’t be also attributed to its residents.
Legal Background of the Caspian Sea
Until the collapse of Soviet Union only two countries neighbored the lake: Iran and the Soviet Union. To facilitate management, procedures of fisheries, oil and gas extraction and transportation was divided into six sections, each conferred to one of the littoral republics inside the soviet including: Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Kalmykia, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
Has there been a border between Iran and Tzarian Russia or Soviet Union in the Caspian Lake? To explicate this point we refer to two conceptual frameworks. Some experts believe that as it has been mentioned in several agreements between Iran and USSR, joint sovereignty has been adopted for navigation, fishery and trans-Caspian areas.
From the beginning of the 19th century, Alexander the Russian emperor decided to revive Russia’s influence in Caucasia. Therefore he dispatched armed forces to the region which led to clashes between Iran and Russia, resulting in two treaties: Treaty of Golestan in 1813 and Treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828. According to these two treaties Iran ceded all its territory in Caucasia and trans-Caucasia to Russia (including Derbent, Georgia, Baku, Ganja, Yerevan, Nakhichevan, and Karabakh) and also its navigation in the Caspian Sea was constricted. According to the 5th article of Treaty of Golestan and 8th article of Treaty of Turkmenchay, Iran and Russia had an equal right for trade sailing in the Caspian Sea, but military navigation was the exclusive right of Russia.
In February 1921, the new revolutionary regime of Russia that called itself the Soviet Socialist Republic of Russia revoked all the constrictions of Turkmenchay Treaty and both parties agreed upon an equal right over navigation under their flags. On March 1940 Iran and USSR signed an agreement over sailing and trade in the Caspian Sea. Therefore the main treaties that can impact the legal regime of this lake include:
1. The Friendship Treaty signed between Iran and Russia in Moscow in 26th of February 1921 and its two appendices:
The eleventh chapter of the treaty reads: “according to principles mentioned in the first chapter of this treaty, the treaty signed on 10th of February between Iran and Russia in Turkmenchay that had deprived Iran from possessing navy in the Caspian Sea is revoked, therefore the both parties agree that from the time this treaty is signed they will have the right to freely navigate under their flag in the Caspian Sea”;
2. Agreement between Iran and USSR in 1st of October 1927 on fishery in the southern costs in addition to protocols and exchanged notes;
3. Trade and sailing treaties between the Monarchy of Iran and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on 25th of March 1940.
According to Article 13 of this treaty “the contracting parties -based on the principles mentioned in the treaty of 26th of February 1921 between Iran and the Socialist Republic of Russia-, agree that no ships other than the ones belonging to Iran or USSR can be present in the Caspian Sea”.
4. Letters exchanged between Iran’s foreign minister and USSR’s envoys on the ways ships use the Caspian Sea’s ports, 25th of March 1940.
One of these letters reads: “since the Caspian Sea -that both parties call it the Sea of Iran and USSR-…” Therefore, according to documents and agreements between Iran and Russia or Iran and Soviet Union, both countries construed that this sea has always been joined and has been used by both sides. But another conceptual framework signifies that there has been a border between the two countries.
Some experts admit the existence of a water border between two countries in their agreements, but some know it only as a de facto procedure adopted by the two countries. The existence of a water border goes back to a line that starts from the mouth of Astrachay River in north of Astara port to the south of USSR’s Number One Fisheries’ Station in the middle of Hasangholi Gulf on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea and north of Bandar-e-Turkaman. Some Iranians deemed this line only as a determiner for air traffic between two countries and for arrangements in flight management.
The consequence of USSR’s collapse was increase of Caspian Sea neighbors from 2 to 5. But this increase was not the result of developments in both countries, but just one of them and if we keep in mind the principle of justice in international contracts, the reality is that it is not fair that a party receives only 11 percent of the area under to Astara-Hasangholi line and the heirs of the other party receive the remaining 89 percent, while the two former parties equally shared the sea in past.
This is the claim of Republic of Azerbaijan that Iran, which once commonly shared the Caspian Sea with Russia, has to receive only that part of the Caspian Sea waters that is under the Astara-Hasangholi line. That’s when since 1992 the extant party, namely Iran has sent a message to the inheritors of the second party asking not to revoke the contract and use the Caspian Sea together just as before lest the other countries wrest its resources. But from the very beginning of USSR’s collapse Azerbaijan opposed all the propositions of the first party.
At a time when Iran emphasized on joint use of the sea, it reasoned that all around the world countries are moving towards unity and it was not rational to divide this precious body of water into smaller pieces like a diamond. The officials of the incipient Republic of Azerbaijan reasoned that they were vulnerable in front of Russia and needed money to stand against Armenians aggression, so it was better for them to listen to the suggestions of their American friends and separate their share of the Caspian Sea. The discussions between the four other countries and Azerbaijan rendered useless for years.
Negotiations between Countries to Reach Agreement on the Caspian Sea’s Legal Regime
Despite failure in achieving a comprehensive legal regime that would define all the activities related to exploitation in the Caspian Sea, the Caspian-bordering countries have attempted in different ways to reach a consensus on an optimal legal regime. These attempts are divided into three groups, i.e. summits, foreign Ministries’ meetings and workgroups’ meetings:
a. Summits
From the outset of USSR collapse, neighboring countries of the Caspian Sea contemplated negotiation on the problems in this lake. At first Iran pursued this idea by proposing establishment of a cooperation organization of the Caspian-bordering countries. Iran believed that inheritors of USSR should decrease their full dependence on Moscow through participation in regional organizations and more cooperation with other countries of the region and become a member of the world community. Hence, Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan became a member of ECO (Economic Cooperation Organization).
In 17th of February 1992, former President of Iran, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, took the chance to hold a meeting of the Caspian-bordering countries during the ECO summit in Tehran. The idea of Caucasian and Central Asian countries joining ECO at a time when they were still under USSR’s influence and the following formation of the Caspian-bordering countries Cooperation Organization (CASCO), was a sign of Iranian diplomacy’s foresightedness. Except the Russian president that had sent his envoy, all other countries had attended the conferences with their presidents and the first steps to establish secretariat for this organization was taken at this point.
In his visit of Tehran in 11th of May 1996, Nur Sultan Nazarbayov, President of Kazakhstan demanded for acceleration in formation of the Caspian-bordering countries cooperation organization according to the declaration of the summit in 17th of February 1992, to act as a permanent mechanism for coordination in applying other principles mentioned in the articles of the declaration.
Forming quintuple committees for coastal cooperation was provisioned during the summit and foreign ministers’ meeting in Tehran. The quintuple committees included:
1. Committee on the Caspian Sea legal regime;
2. Committee on scientific researches and controlling water vacillation in the Caspian Sea;
3. Committee on navigation, titled as transportation committee;
4. Committee on fishery titled as Committee of the Caspian Sea’s biological supplies;
5. Committee on the Caspian Sea environment preservation.
But forming this organization was not followed by so much zeal and due to oppositions of Republic of Azerbaijan this issue was forgotten gradually until in early months of 2000, Safar Murat Niazov, President of Turkmenistan stated that experts are the main obstacle against agreement on the Caspian Sea and if the leaders of the Caspian Sea neighboring countries hold a meeting, agreement is absolutely feasible.
Because of the disputes Niazov had with Republic of Azerbaijan on the oil fields of center of the Caspian Sea, he proposed for the convention of the presidents of the five countries in Krasnovodsk (Türkmenbaşy) to decide on the legal regime of the sea. At first Iran proposed a delay to the meeting from 1st of March 2001 to 13th of March 2001. That was because Iran hoped to benefit from Mr. Khatami’s visit to Moscow and anticipated Russia’s announcement that it’s still committed to 1921 and 1940 agreements. Azerbaijan objected that the new date wasn’t suitable for its president and it was better to hold the meeting in summer.
In summer Turkmenistan announced that the summit will be held in autumn. But 9/11 happened and the issue lost its importance after this event. With Azerbaijan’s further request, the summit was postponed once more. At the beginning of 2002 in his meeting with Igor Ivanov, Niazov said that the meeting will be held in 2002.
Experts of the neighboring countries established workgroups to set the agenda for this conference. In their meetings the issue of reaching a consensus about the draft of the summit was discussed and negotiated. Consequently a draft was prepared that different points of views were mentioned inside parentheses. In the 7th article of the draft experts agreed to mention “all parties agree that the current legal regime doesn’t match the new situation and it needs complements.” Article 8 stressed the principle of unanimous vote in approval of the convention. The 12th article of the draft discussed joint sovereignty of the surface of the sea and division of the seabed.
This legal approach had become a subject of interest for Russia and a subject of objection for other countries since a long time ago. Therefore experts allocated several sessions to solve this problem. The sessions held in 22nd and 23rd of April 2002 for preparation of drafts were of especial importance for the experts. Also foreign ministers attended a long session to approve the draft prepared by experts in Ashgabat before the summit had started.
Finally the summit was held on 23rd and 24th of April in Ashgabat. Despite all hopes and optimisms, this meeting didn’t satisfy the countries. The meeting had an inaugural session which included speeches and negotiations between leaders of the countries, but it lead to further distinction of disputes between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.
Russia proposed a new plan in this conference. Establishing two sectorial divisions known as national sectors and also joint waters at the middle of the sea were part of this plan. One sectorial division related to border and customs control and the other division was merely for fishing. In Ashgabat Russia proposed joining these two sectors and replacement of 10 nautical miles (that was the width of territorial waters) with 15 nautical miles. The second session of the conference didn’t have any result due to disagreement on the declaration and no document was signed at the end of the summit.
Although the negotiations of Ashgabat didn’t have any favorable outcome and leaders of the countries didn’t sign any document, but two important events happened at the end of the summit: firstly it was announced that Iran will host the next round of conventions in 2003 in Tehran. Secondly the Russian President flew directly to Astrakhan, the Russian port city on the coast of the Caspian Sea and there he announced that Russia will start a military maneuver in the Caspian Sea.
The maneuver that had started from 1st of August 2002 ended in 15th of that month. Announcing launch of this maneuver by Putin in Astrakhan, one day after the summit had finished caused everyone to think that the summit that intended to bring around an agreement to define the legal regime of the Caspian Sea has been a failure and Kremlin is expressing its anger by this maneuver.
Although the Caspian Sea experts believed that despite a gloomy prospect to achieve a comprehensive legal regime the Caspian-bordering countries will adopt diplomatic approach, Russia’s move show that this country is not so optimistic about the success of its diplomacy in the Caspian Sea or Putin’s aggressive policy after the Ashgabat summit is a sign of Moscow’s double-edged policy that follows several regional and trans-regional aims simultaneously.
The diplomacy that used to be quintuple from 1992 to 1999 became bilateral and trilateral since that year and changed form into Russia’s attempt to sign treaties or border agreements with other countries. The protocol of dividing the northern seabed of the Caspian Sea was signed by presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan on 13th of May 2002 in Moscow. Also in 23rd of September 2002 an agreement on defining the sovereign territory, water boundaries and exploitation of the Caspian Sea resources was signed between Russia and Republic of Azerbaijan. Putin named this agreement a huge victory for Russia’s initiative on division of seabed and commonly shared utilization of the water. Before these agreements Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan also signed a bilateral agreement that according to it each party’s share from resources in the northern part of the sea was determined. This agreement that was signed on 1st of December 2002 during the summit of Commonwealth of Independent States in Moscow was an important step in dividing the Caspian Sea into five national sectors according to Aliyev. With the trilateral agreement signed between Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in May 2003 it became clear that Russia intends to solve the legal issues of the Caspian Sea in another way without considering Iran’s interests.
b. Foreign Ministries’ Meetings
The first meeting of foreign ministers was held in Tehran on 16th of February 1992 without the participation of the Russian Foreign Minister.
Of the rarest meetings on the Caspian Sea that led to agreement among the five Caspian-neighboring countries was the foreign ministers’ meeting on 11th and 12th of 1996 in Ashgabat. In this meeting the foreign ministers agreed to form a special workgroup to prepare a comprehensive legal convention for the Caspian Sea. It was decided to hold the first session of workgroup in December of 1996 in Alma-Ata. During this meeting foreign ministers of Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran, tending to join efforts to develop mineral resources of the Caspian Sea agreed on establishing an Iranian-Russian-Turkmen multinational corporation to discover and extract oil and gas fields in their water territories.
Foreign ministers of the coastal countries held another session on 22nd of April 2002 in Ashgabat to prepare a draft for leaders’ summit on 23rd and 24th of April. The session’s agenda was approval of the draft prepared by experts.
Once again on 20th of June 2007 foreign ministers of the five countries gathered in Tehran. Sergey Lavrov the Russian F.M expressed his doubt about achievement of a proper solution before the leaders’ summit. Lavrov proposed development of a temporary protocol that would define the general regulations for the Caspian Sea. He said that border and military issues will be on leaders’ agenda. Azerbaijan’s foreign minister asked for cooperation between countries in order to counter terrorism, traffic and other crimes.
c. Workgroups’ Meeting
The meetings held by workgroup or the special group was the outcome of the negotiations between F.Ms of the five countries of the Caspian Sea. In the beginning the meetings were supposed to be held by deputy foreign ministers of the countries, but after the countries introduced their special envoy one by one, they weren’t necessarily from the Foreign Ministry. Iran’ envoy at the first meeting was Abbas Maleki, Deputy Foreign Minister of Research and Education.
The first session which was held at Kazakhstan on December 1996 mainly focused on environmental issues. But during the meeting it became clear that Azerbaijan seriously follows the policy of dividing the sea into national sectors among the littoral countries. Afterwards, due to disagreements among the countries about the legal regime of the Caspian Sea, these meetings became important and were titled “the Caspian Sea Workgroup”. From Iran usually the Deputy Foreign Minister of Europe and America Department headed the Iranian delegation.
The second meeting of deputy foreign ministers was held on 16th and 17th of December in Moscow. For the first time, in this meeting Russia affirmed that his country earlier believed in joint sovereignty and commitment to Iran-USSR agreements but now it had changed its stance and supported a joint sovereignty on the surface and division of the seabed. Also in this meeting the Russian envoy stated that his country is against installing any pipeline on the bed of the Caspian Sea. He also said that they didn’t clearly understand Iran’s proposition on equal division of the sea and its share of 20 percent and implementing this plan will last for 50 years.
In this meeting also Azerbaijan’s envoy declared that Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have agreed on applying the median line mechanism in dividing the Caspian Sea. He also claimed that Iran’s request for the 20 percent share contradicts with international norms and causes problems for the resources under the seabed. Insisting on Iran’s 20% share, Iran’s envoy informed about the opposition of his country on interference of any foreign country in the Caspian Sea. The government of Kazakhstan also named median line as the only option for division and claimed that Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have reached a shared stance. According to Turkmenistan the achievement of this conference was that all countries had accepted the division approach.
The third meeting of the workgroup was held in Tehran in March of 1999. In this meeting preparation of a draft for the declaration of leaders’ summit was put on the agenda. Through the meeting it had become clear that there is a convergence between the Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan’s stance and Iran’s insistence on equal share doesn’t have any supporter.
The fourth meeting was held in Baku. In this meeting the Iranian delegation proposed that for each session, the agenda be defined by the experts.
The fifth meeting was held in Astana -Kazakhstan’s new capital- in 20th and 21st of September 2001. The experts of the countries had discussed the draft of the declaration in advance on 18th and 19th of September. That continued in the fifth meeting.
While Azerbaijan stressed on the necessity of step-by-step approach to solve the problems of the Caspian Sea with priority given to division of seabed and exploitation of resources under the seabed, the Iranian delegation believed condominium and joint use of the sea as the best option. Russia emphasized on holding a meeting between heads of the fisheries and preparing am agreement for fisheries and limitation of fishing sturgeon fishes and the necessity to finalize the environment preservation convention for the Caspian Sea. Also Russia openly opposed demilitarization of the sea, called it unacceptable and spoke against division of the surface of the sea. In this meeting, the workgroup approved 12 articles from the draft of the declaration of leaders’ summit.
In one of these articles Russia tried to convince the other countries that the best legal system for the Sea’s management is the joint sovereignty of the lake’s surface and division of its bed. Russia’s envoy in the fifth conference, Victor Kalhuzhniy inclined to get the approval of three other countries, i.e. Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to attain a four-to-one formula against Iran. The Astana meeting was a turning point in the procedure of the Caspian Sea’s legal regime since all countries openly cleared their stance. This meeting showed the huge gap between countries. The Iranian government later expressed its disapproval of Victor Kalhuzhniy’s approach to the ambassadors of Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan by the Director General of Commonwealth of Independent States Department in the Foreign Ministry.
The sixth meeting of the Caspian Sea workgroup that was going to be held on 18th and 19th of December in Moscow was delayed because Turkmenistan didn’t attend. Russia’s favorite legal approach, which is applying joint sovereignty on the surface of the sea and dividing the bed was to be put to negotiations in Moscow.
Some reports say that Iran also favored a postponing of this conference and somehow had encouraged Turkmenistan to stand against holding the conference. Iran felt that the process of negotiations on the declaration is such that it results in convergence of the four other countries and their confrontation against Iran. If this process continued then the four countries would reach a more similar stance and the negotiations would become a hardship for Iran.
The seventh conference of the workgroup was in summer 2001 in Tehran. In Tehran it was arranged that the countries study about the convention of the Caspian Sea’s legal regime and deliver their propositions to Azerbaijan in order to be discussed in the 8th conference in Baku.
After several months of delay the eighth meeting of the workgroup was held on 26th and 27th of February 2003 in Baku. This meeting was delayed once in summer and once in the autumn of 2002. The agenda was reported as discussion about the convention of the Caspian Sea’s legal regime. In addition to formulating an executive code, Russia proposed an increase of the authority of the workgroup that wasn’t approved due to Turkmenistan’s disagreement.
Also in this meeting the legal convention, especially its preamble and 3 articles were explored. The main issue of the preamble was the way the two agreements of 1921 and 1940 had to be referred. Iran believed that these two agreements are the basis for the current and future legal regimes of the sea. Kazakhstan believed that these treaties include some articles that although acceptable, are incomplete and the best way is to refer to the seas’ international law and the 1982 convention. Azerbaijan believed that in addition to these two treaties the applied procedure during the USSR period and afterwards should be taken into consideration.
The ninth meeting of the workgroup was held from 12th to 14th of May 2003 in Almaty instead of Astana with the participation of the special envoys of the five countries. The agenda was negotiation on the convention of the Caspian Sea’s legal regime.
The main issues of the convention included: the quality of exploiting oil and gas resources, financial activities of the seabed and its beneath, commercial navigation, scientific and research activities, fishing, environment preservation and customs and security issues. After the end of the conference Kazakhstan’s envoy stated that the convention was review once again thoroughly and about 40% of the content was agreed upon and the mechanism for applying environmental policies was determined.
But on definition of the territorial sea and the area of fisheries and transportation for each country the negotiations rendered unsuccessful. Khoshgaldi Babayov, Turkmenistan’s envoy and Khelef Oglu, Azerbaijan’s envoy emphasized that Iran’s proposal to allocate 20 percent of the sea’s water to this country was not put to discussion at all. After this round of negotiations ended, Iran’s envoy claimed that in Almaty serious disagreements between the countries existed about the content of the convention, issues of demilitarizing the Caspian Sea and setting regulations for shipping and fishing. Russia demanded for keeping its navy and preparing a condition for free navigation of its commercial, military and fishing ships in all parts of the sea that caused controversy and dispute and led to no result.
Also in this meeting it was agreed that the next meeting, i.e. the tenth meeting on June 2003 be held from 20th to 25th in Moscow. In his interview Victor Kalhuzhniy said that pursuit of the convention for the Caspian Sea’s legal regime and preparation of the draft of leaders’ summit that was to be held in 2003 in Tehran is still on the agenda in Moscow.
The 10th conference in Moscow witnessed Russia’s insistence to expansion of the national territory from 10 nautical miles to 15. This is the two coastal sectors that Russia deems as national sectors. One sector is for border and customs control and the other one which is joined with this sector is merely for fishing. As in Ashgabat, in Moscow Russia suggested that these two sectors merge in each other and instead of the 10 nautical miles that was agreed upon in two treaties of 1921 and 1941, 15 nautical miles becomes the new measure. The 11th conference was held in Turkmenistan’s capital, Ashgabat and the convention was further explored.
The twelfth meeting was held in Tehran. Members of the 13th meeting of the workgroup gathered in Baku on 15th and 16th of March 2004. At the end of the meeting they released a declaration stating that some articles of the convention have been agreed upon. According to this declaration articles related to commercial sailing have been discussed and agreed upon.
Also in this meeting the convention related to the Caspian Sea’s meteorology was approved. After this meeting Kalhuzhniy stated that issues such as dividing seabed, using water, preserving living resources of the sea, water borders, region’s security and movement of navy have still remained unresolved. The 14th meeting was held in Kazakhstan in June 2004. The 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th conferences were held respectively in Moscow, Ashgabat, Tehran, Baku and Astana. Mainly the negotiations were about the legal regime of the Caspian Sea, without any special result. On 14th of March 2006, the 20th meeting of the workgroup was held in Moscow.
At the beginning of the meeting Russian F.M Sergey Lavrov asked all the countries to show commitment and respect towards the contracts and agreements between Iran and USSR until the end of the negotiations. Meanwhile Novosti news agency reported that recently considerable progressions have been made in preparation of the preamble of the legal regime of the Caspian Sea and agreements have been achieved in most of the chapters and articles. Lavrov talked about “hope to finish the task in near future”. He also said that the remaining problems include defining the water boundaries of the Caspian Sea and division of its southern bed, conditions for installing pipelines and defining a framework for military activities in the Caspian Sea.
What Should We Do in Tehran?
It seems that Tehran summit is one of the last hopes to solve the problems of the Caspian Sea. Despite the history of the sea, since 1992 the efforts made by neighboring countries to reach a consensus on the legal regime of this body of water has rendered unsuccessful. But also steps have been taken to improve the situation.
1. If Tehran summit succeeds to reinforce the former achievements or add new items to them, it has attained the desirable goals. Considerable achievements in the Caspian Sea so far have been the following issues:
• The Caspian Sea Environment Preservation Convention of 5th of November 2003 that aimed to preserve and revitalize the Caspian Sea environment, control its pollution, controls the coasts and ensure sustained harvest of sturgeon reserves through joint efforts;
• Joint declaration of Iran and Russia after Mr. Khatami’s visit of Moscow on March 2001 when the two countries announced their commitment to treaties between Iran and Soviet Union, including 1921 and 1940 treaties;
• The Caspian-bordering countries’ commitment to traffic of vessels only under the flag of these countries despite the attempts of foreign powers, especially United States which had provided military aids for the Republic of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan;
• Cooperation between the Caspian-bordering countries in using living beings of the sea that despite inattention of some countries to the extinction of some major aquatics of the lake, harvest from the lake has continued to a reasonable rate so far;
• Transportation in the Caspian Sea is still carried out according to agreements between Iran and USSR and with approval of the joint sovereignty regime. Some initiatives such as the North-South corridor have bolstered commodity traffic heavily. Constructing the new channel of Eurasia between the Caspian Sea and Sea of Azov will turn this region into the crossroad of transportation between North and South and East and West;
• Using energy supplies of the Caspian Sea such as oil fields of Kashagan, Azeri, Guneshli, Chirag or gas fields of Shah Deniz and also Caspian-neighboring fields such as Tengiz or Dowlatabad add to the discovered supplies of energy in a macro level and strengthen energy security in global scale;
• And finally oil and gas pipelines around the Caspian Sea have led to variety in energy provision and transfer or exchange of oil and gas of this region to Persian Gulf, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Adriatic and Mediterranean Sea increases the geopolitical importance of countries such as Russia and Iran;
2. On the other hand it seems that the main challenges in the Caspian Sea include:
• Territorial, ethnic and legal disputes;
• Complicated seismographic and geological conditions for discovering resources of seabed;
• Ecological concerns.
If we take a look at these issues and if we rely on history to predict future events, it seems as the Caspian Sea will be one of the hot spots of future. Without any exception history has shown that regions with rich resources experience myriads of turmoil. Rivalry between several governments to exploit these supplies and instable situations pave the way for war and prolonged clashes. The interesting point is that the main reason for disagreement between coastal countries is that any legal regime will have considerable effects on income, economy and even the political regime of countries such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
Republic of Azerbaijan is still hopeful to attract oil and gas consuming countries like United States and huge oil corporations to this region through oil resources of the Caspian Sea. It has been successful to some extent in this matter and expects to become powerful to a level that it can recapture its territory from Armenians through its oil and gas revenue and lobbying of the investing countries and corporations.
The new round of clashes in Chechnya started when Chechnyan guerillas attacked two villages in Dagestan in order to seize control over energy resources of the Caspian Sea, complete the cordon of turmoil between ethnicities is north of Caucasia from the Caspian Sea coass to coast of the Black Sea and attain a better geopolitical situation.
Also in past the cost of discovering oil fields in the Caspian Sea and production was so high that only huge corporations could face its high risk. But due to new technologies nowadays even small corporations can be successful in this field. The Caspian Sea’s oil is costly from aspects such as discovery, development, extraction and transportation.
Despite all the frenzy, the Caspian Sea is not loaded oil and gas. Only five fields in the Caspian Sea are big and economical enough, of which three have been discovered during the Soviet Union era and the other two have been discovered recently. It is also possible that the Alborz field which lies in Iran’s sector has an equal capacity. But that’s only a possibility.
On the other hand three parameters are important in producing oil in the Caspian Sea and its duration: firstly the price of oil must be high, at least 30 dollars and higher; otherwise production of oil will not by reasonable. Secondly there must be political stability in the coastal countries and thirdly infrastructures for energy transfer must be constructed.
3. Based on the mentioned issues now Iran is in its best conditions to pursue its interests in the region. First of all, Iran is a country that is free from ethnic and territorial clashes that are a result of USSR’s collapse. Secondly, although a part of the oil and gas of the Caspian Sea belongs to Iran, there are not only these supplies that help Iran in economical growth. Iran enjoys such a weight that it can hold on for some time to attain its strategic targets. Thirdly, geographically speaking Iran has the advantage of either consuming oil or gas besides the Caspian Sea or transferring it to the Persian Gulf with a low cost. Fourthly, although Iran has a role in polluting the Caspian Sea’s environment, but that is the least portion of the pollution.
4. The system of joint use from the Caspian Sea or a combination of exclusive and common zones has not still been removed from the Caspian-bordering countries’ memory. Due to a decrease in the importance of the Caspian Sea with respect to its energy and geopolitics after developments in Afghanistan and Iraq, focus on condominium is advantageous for Iran. Developing an optimal legal regime for exploitation of energy resources, transportation, using living organisms and environment preservation requires sharing the Caspian Sea.
5. Despite the unpalatable results of the trilateral agreement between Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan we shouldn’t forget agreements between other countries can not be condemned unless their harm Iran’s national interests. On the other Iran’s active diplomacy to reach an agreement with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan can lead the country towards the best solution.
If Kazakhstan has received 28.4 and Russia 19.1 percent of the northern part of the Caspian Sea, that means 47.5 percent of this body of water has found a clear status. Through negotiations the remaining 52.5 percent can give a share of 17.5 percent to each of the three countries.
6. New models are proposed for development of the countries of the region. This include the dual model of expansionary economical growth accompanied by political contraction that is experience by China, liberalistic development of Turkey, gradual privatization of Russia or development based on cultural-historical parameters implemented by Iran. Iran can advise development models to other countries of the Caspian Sea.
A review of Iran’s policies in Central Asia and Caucasia demonstrates that Iran is committed to expanding its economical and political ties while respecting the countries’ sovereignty. This background can serve Iran’s new propositions to reinforce ties in the region.
7. Due to a shortage in crude oil production in Azerbaijan, America is increasingly urging Kazakhstan to transfer its crude oil to Azerbaijan in order to supply the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. Therefore, a route has been devised for the tankers that take crude oil of Tengiz and Kashagan fields from Kuryk and Aqtau ports of Kazakhstan to Baku. On 24th of January 2007 the oil companies involved agreed to transfer 500 thousand barrels of crude oil from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan each day.
The cost of purchasing tanker and setting up terminals is more than 3 billion dollars. It seems that the alternative project of Neka-Rey pipeline can vie this project if the tariffs reduce. Recently Iran’s National Oil Company has ordered ten 60 thousand ton tankers for crude oil shipment that can transfer crude oil from every point of the Caspian Sea.
These tankers can shuttle along the Aqtau-Baku route in addition to routes leading to Iran and they can have a share in crude oil export of the Caspian Sea. This prevents construction of two trans-Caspian pipelines that seriously damage the environment.
8. Iran is finishing construction of the Alborz oil rig. This rig can activate Iran’s oil companies in discovering oil fields in central parts of the Caspian Sea. Brazilian company Petrobras is also going to sign a contract worth of 450 million dollars for discovery and development of Iranian fields in the Caspian Sea. If the contract becomes finalized it’ll be the first foreign investment in the Iranian part.
9. Iran is in favor of a pipeline that starts from Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan and leads towards south and after passing through Turkmenistan injects crude oil into Iran’s old pipelines that carry the oil towards south and deliver it to customers in the Arabian Sea or Persian Gulf. The crude oil that is transferred with this pipeline is cost-effective for Asian customers and can bypass critical points of the world with regard to energy security. Studies on this pipeline which has been known as KTI are being conducted by a consortium of Kazmunaigas, Total, Inpex and Japan’s National Oil Company and its construction has been approved economical. Such a project needs the consent of key decision-makers of the Caspian-bordering countries.
10. Currently Iran can carry on joint projects with its neighbors in the Caspian Sea. One of them can be joint discovery and extraction of oil from the Alborz field with Azerbaijan which can be on the agenda during negotiations with this country.
Also in blocks in Iran and Turkmenistan’s shared waters joint projects can be conducted. These activities need a review of contracts signed for discovery and extraction of oil in southern parts of the country. The Caspian Sea’s unique situation demands other frames of contract such as PSA or newer versions of service contracts.
11. Commodity transportation in the Caspian Sea is usually done by Russian vessels. Recently Iranian companies are trying to obtain a share of this transportation for Iranian ships. In 2006, Iran’s National Shipping Company signed a contract with Russian companies for construction of four 6750 ton ships.
These ships entered the sea from the early days of 2007, a move which increased the current 25000 tons capacity of Iranian vessels up to 52000 tons. Currently Russia owns 100 ships that if we designate an average capacity of 5000 tons for each; Russia’s shipping capacity in the Caspian Sea will become 500 thousand tons, 10 times more than that of Iran’s. Republic of Azerbaijan owns 16 cargo ships.
Transportation of oil and gas by Iranian ships will bolster Iran’s national merit. That becomes much more important when we remember that Iran is the most important country in the north-south corridor. A combined use of north-south corridor and Volga-Don and Eurasia canals will increase security of energy and will counter likely sanctions against Iran.
12. As it was mentioned before, on March 2007 Russia’s F.M spoke about his country’s need for Caspian summit and added that he hoped the remaining problems such as defining water borders and dividing seabed in the southern part of the lake and the framework of military activities would be solved in a near future.
Recently Russia has suggested other neighboring countries of the Caspian Sea to form a quick reaction force in the region. Kremlin officials believe that the Caspian Sea is a crossroad for the terrorist agents from regional centers of terrorism, that still exist in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries. Additionally, not all the coastal countries are prepared to confront new threats singularly.
On the other hand arms traffic from former Soviet republics and drug trafficking from Afghanistan, which is the main center of drug production, has become common in all Caspian Sea neighboring countries. In Moscow’s opinion dividing the Caspian Sea into national sectors can worsen the conditions in the region and foil concordance between countries on crucial security issues. Therefore, proposal of forming multinational quick reaction forces that have a mission is to fight against terrorism is an appropriate proposal. Moscow believes that it is important to reach an agreement on the necessity of providing security for Caspian-bordering countries without the intervention of other countries.
Russia’s proposal about military activities in the Caspian Sea contains two issues:
Firstly, Russia has suggested including “a formula to maintain sustained military balance among the coastal countries” in the legal charter. Also establishing military structures in the Caspian Sea should be “not more than necessary and reasonable”. Secondly regarding that the five countries have agreed upon including the issue of a ban on using military forces or threats and mere peaceful use of the sea in the preamble and the third chapter of the charter’s draft, Russia has proposed to complete this part by adding a “bar on the presence of the military forces of foreign countries in the Caspian Sea”.
The imbalanced military status and its asymmetrical distribution among the five countries is one of the crucial issues of the Caspian Sea. It’s suitable for Iran to attempt to include in the convention a ban not only for the military ships of non-neighboring countries, but also for any military force of any country except the five countries of the region.
13. The Caspian Sea needs more attention inside the country. There are many issues that need to be discussed with other countries of the region. Issues such as the legal regime, resources of the seabed, quality of using aquatics, environment, territorial waters, gulfs of the Caspian Sea, ports, islands, sea lane, ships using nuclear fuel, neighboring countries’ navy, the responsibilities of the country bearing a flag, safe passage of commercial and military ships, undersea presence of the countries, safety codes, navigation certifications, compensations for sea travels or damages done to the environment, regulations for oil and gas pipelines. These issues were not discussed previously and now that the number of the countries has increased from two to five it is necessary that clarifications be made on them.
14. Finally Western countries are moving towards financial and political sanctions to stop Iran’s nuclear activities. Imposing such sanctions that now have the support of UN Security Council is not unlikely. In this situation Iran need new ways and also routes for financial and political ties, one of them the Caspian Sea and its neighbors.