Azerbaijan, Baku, August 31 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova /
The Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov's statement on establishment of the military-naval base at the Caspian Sea says about the upcoming serious talks, editor-in-chief of Russian newspaper Kommersant, Azer Mursaliyev, said.
"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 outer world. As a rule, it is made on the eve of serious talks," Mursaliyev said.
Turkmenistan will quickly create a military-naval base of the Defense Ministry and border guards at the Caspian Sea, the Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said at the enlarged meeting of the State Security Council on August 30, RIA Novosti reported.
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov 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 defined borders at the Caspian Sea with other nations yet.
On dividing the bottom of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia have no claims on one another's. There are both bilateral and trilateral agreements between these countries on the issue. The parties have also agreed to determine the coordinates of the dividing 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, despite many years of discussions.
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, the Republic of Azerbaijan announced the accessibility of its sector of the Caspian Sea, fixing this 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, the current statement in the same direction reinforces the previous one," Mursaliyev told Trend over phone from Moscow.
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 at the Caspian Sea even without this statement is unlikely to be solved in the five-party format, Mursaliyev said.
He said that a system error was initially made, when Tehran was attracted to divide the Caspian Sea. The problem might not have affected Iran, 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 out only if one of the parties voluntarily gives in its territory. But nobody is going to do it," he said.
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