IN ESHQABAD CASPIAN SUMMIT, KHATAMI IS TERRIBLY ALONE
By an IPS special correspondent
ESHQABAD (TURMENISTAN) President Mohammad Khatami of Iran left Monday Tehran
for Eshqabad to attend a Summit conference on the Caspian Sea, fighting an
uphill battle against counterparts from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and
Russia.
Before leaving Tehran, the embattled and powerless president hoped that the upcoming summit of head of the Caspian Sea littoral states would be "fruitful in reaching a consensus on Caspian Sea's legal regime".
The often put off Summit is to start Tuesday 23 April and end the day after.
Khatami said that the issue is "complicated" and needs further study and expert analysis, referring to the basic difference that opposes the Islamic Republic to other four littoral nations, except Turkmenistan.
"It is only natural that the countries will take into account their own interest in determining a legal regime for the Caspian Sea 'as it should be, but, Tehran believes that it is necessary to come up with a consensus for any legal regime", Mr. Khatami added.
For its part, the Kremlin has officially warned observers not to expect a binding treaty to emerge from the summit - even as Moscow operatives in recent weeks have vocally urged the other four states to agree on a division of the sea. Moscow seems intent on preserving its power and options in case the summit does not produce a binding deal.
As the other Caspian Sea states have defined their respective borders in regard of both the Sea’s surface and bed waters on internationally accepted basis, the Islamic Republic alone insist that the lake’s resources should be divided equally, giving each of the five bordering nations 20 per cent of the waters.
Some Iranian newspapers and experts go further and insist that according to agreements signed in 1921 and 1940 between Iran and the former Soviet Union, Tehran’s share of the waters amounts to 50 per cent and criticise the government for pushing for 20 per cent "only".
Mr. Kazem Jalali, an MM (member of the Majles) from the north-eastern city of Shahrood, argued that Iran should have claimed 50 percent of the Caspian, since it had signed territorial treaties with the Soviet Union in 1921 and 1940 as an equal partner and told the government to explain why it was only pressing for 20 percent of the Sea.
"Iran’s insisting on getting 20 pr cent of the Caspian is understandable, as, if the waters are divided according to international regulations, its share would not be more than 13 per cent, against 34 for Kazakhstan, 19% for Russia and Azerbaijan and 15% for Turkmenistan", said a Russian expert on the issue, making plain that he was talking on "rough estimates".
The reformists-dominated Majles also severely criticised the Foreign Affairs Minister Kamal Kharrazi's shuttles to Moscow, and Eshqabad and Baku in April, observing that he achieved no backing for Iran’s stand on the thorny issue.
Kazakhstan television broadcast a report saying that the Iranian committee "has put forward a demand that the Caspian littoral states give Iran 50 percent of the Caspian resource".
"Iran has officially demanded part of the oilfields which are considered to belong to Kazakhstan", the report said, warning that disputes over the status of the Caspian Sea have gone "beyond all bounds", the Prague-based Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty said in a commentary on the Summit.
Dr. Give Mirfendereski, an Iranian US-based expert on the Caspian Sea and Central Asia noted that even though the 1921 and 1940 treaties are the only official ones that exist, yet they are not clear concerning the exploration of the Sea’s resources.
Though Iran says it has not made any such demand and has not changed its policy (of asking 20 per cent of the water), but it is obvious that by claiming the old Iran-Soviet Union treaties, Tehran denies any right to the new bordering states that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1990.
According to Kazakh Television Tehran believes that the other Caspian littoral states are lawful successors to the Soviet Union, and so they should divide another half of the sea among themselves. In that case, Iran will get some of the oil deposits that are currently owned by Kazakhstan".
Iran’s main dispute is with neighbouring Azerbaijan that claims parts of the Caspian oil fields known as "Alborz" that Tehran says are within its own territorial waters.
The two countries reached the brink of war last July as Iran displayed war planes and gunboats to stop Azeri-hired survey ships to explore in the disputed zone.
Experts say the Sea’s geopolitical position is of more importance that its hydrocarbon resources, as the Caspian seats between four "key" regions of the Subcontinent, China, Russia and Central Asia.
"Estimates of the oil and gas reserves of the Caspian basin have been grossly exaggerated", says Dr. Nersi Qorban, an oil expert at the Tehran-based Institute for the Caspian Sea Studies, pointing out that so far, Kazakhstan is producing 800.000 barels per day (bpd) and Azerbaijan 300.000 bpd from their fields in Tengis on the north and Ceraq, to the south.
"However, there is no way to compare Caspian’s energy reserves with those of the Persian Gulf, where Saudi Arabia alone holds 25 per cent of the world’s known reserves", Dr. Qorban added.
Briefing journalists before Mr. Khatami’s departure, the Foreign Affairs senior spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi hoped that the Eshqabad Summit would reach a consensus on the legal regime of the Caspian Sea, acknowledging that the interests of the five littoral states are "subject to differences".
"In the current circumstances, the Summit is not expected to clarify the territorial borders of the Caspian states, but we hope that the meeting will reach a consensus in general on the legal regime of the Caspian Sea", the Iranian official news agency quoted the Iraqi-born Asefi as having observed.
"It is clear that all the parties should exercise vigilance, meditation and patience. Iranian foreign ministry does not expect a dramatic breakthrough and thinks it is not practical" Asefi further said, repeating that the Caspian States are required to reach a solution collectively accepted by all the littoral states.
"We are at the beginning of the road to formulate the Caspian Sea legal regime. Of course many views are being put forward. God willing long-term negotiations will bear fruit," the spokesman said.
On his arrival to Eshqabad, Mr. Khatami was welcomed by his Turkmen counterpart Saparmyrat Niyazov, known by his people as Turkmenbashi or the father of the Turkmen
After the Summit, due to end on 24th of April, Mr. Khatami would visit Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, his first "grand tour" of Central Asian newly independent nations that, for most of them, have been part of the Persian Empire before being "eaten" by the Tsarist Russia more than a century ago.
Referring to his visits, President Khatami said the trip was in line with the expansion of cordial ties between Iran and five Muslims-dominated Central Asian nations, with whom Tehran has troublesome relations, due to the backing Iranian hard line mullahs provides to fundamentalist groups fighting the ruling regimes there.
"There are ample capacities for further consolidation of ties between Iran and Central Asian Countries and hopefully the Iranian delegation, in cooperation with their counterparts will solidify plans for preserving peace and stability in the region", said Mr. Khatami who, before leaving Tehran, had met with Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic.
President Khatami is accompanied on his tour of Central Asian countries by Foreign Affairs Minister Kamal Kharrazi, Minister of Economy and Finance Tahmasb Mazaheri, Minister of Road and Transportation Ahmad Khorram, Head of the Iran-Turkmenistan Joint Economic Commission as well as a number of deputy ministers. ENDS CASPIAN SUMMIT 22402