Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 31 / Trend , A.Badalova/
Turkmenistan's intentions to establish a naval base on the Caspian Sea is an understandable desire of the countries to strengthen its positions, says Pavel Sorokin, the analyst of Unicredit Securities investment company, which is part of an international financial UniCredit Group.
"There is not anything unpredictable and wrong in the statement [by the Turkmen President]. Every country has the right to strengthen its position," Sorokin told Trend over a telephone on Aug. 31.
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.
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 its share on the Caspian Sea, to which it can claim, and, of course, the country is trying to strengthen its position, said Sorokin.
He said this step does not go beyond the usual activities of the state. All the littoral countries, including Russia, and Iran, have their own border guards," said Sorokin.
There are no statements that the country is not going to agree with the future status of the Caspian Sea, or to take any step by its solution, he added.
Despite discussions of many years, the legal status of the Caspian Sea has not yet been defined. 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 issue is yet to be agreed with just two countries - Turkmenistan and Iran.
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.
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