TURKMEN GOVERNMENT'S ARGUMENTS IN THE CASPIAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000995

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN; EEB
ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON
COMMERCE FOR HUEPER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EPET PGOV EINV PBTS AZ TX
SUBJECT: TURKMEN GOVERNMENT'S ARGUMENTS IN THE CASPIAN
BOUNDARY DISPUTE

REF: ASHGABAT 947


1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.


2. (U) SUMMARY: On August 4, state-owned "Neutralniy
Turkmenistan" newspaper published an MFA-authored article
outlining Turkmenistan's arguments in its dispute with
Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea delimitation issue. The article
mentioned the international laws that the Turkmen government
refers to in support of its position and specified the
government's interpretation of those laws. The analytical
article followed-up President Berdimuhamedov's July 24
statement regarding Turkmenistan's intention to take the
Turkmen-Azeri Caspian boundary dispute to an international
court of arbitration. END SUMMARY.


3. (U) The article, titled "The Caspian: An Area for the
Formulation of a New Architecture for Regional State
Interaction," began with a long-winded statement of the
historical context of this issue. It provided a description
of various documents, mostly related to navigation, fisheries,
and the environment, that had been signed since the early
1990s.


4. (U) The article continued with a statement of the Turkmen
government's position on the Caspian delimitation issue,
emphasizing the following arguments. First, Turkmenistan
believes that the delimitation of the seabed and subsoil of
the Caspian Sea should be carried out by means of agreement
between states having adjacent or opposite coasts. Justifying
this position, the Turkmen government referred to Section 1 of
Article 6 of the 1958 Convention on the Continental Shelf,
which among other things stipulates that "...the boundary of
the continental helf ... shall be determined by agreement...
In the absence of agreement, and unless another boundary line
is justified by special circumstances, the boundary is the
median line..." On this basis, Turkmenistan considers it
unacceptable to take any unilateral actions without agreement
among the relevant littoral States defining their
jurisdictions over specific sections of the seabed.


5. (U) Secondly, the delimitation of the Caspian seabed and
subsoil should be carried out on the basis of the median line.
International law provides a universally-recognized method of
determining the median line, which is based on the principle
of equidistance of its points from a coastal baseline.
Although, according to the international practice, the median
line is determined taking into account so-called "special
circumstances" related to natural geographic unevenness of
coastlines, the Turkmen government believes that "special
circumstances" negatively impact the principle of justness of
maritime boundary delimitation, which is "stipulated in the UN
Convention on the Law of the Sea." Based on the above-
mentioned premises, the Turkmen government uses the following
approach when conducting negotiations with Azerbaijan
regarding the Caspian delimitation: Delimitation of the
Caspian seabed and subsoil should be carried out without
taking into consideration Azerbaijan's Apsheron Peninsula and
Zhiloy Island, which are "special circumstances" according to
the international maritime law and, therefore, should not be
considered when determining the median line.


6. (U) The article also praised President Berdimuhamedov's
decision to take this issue to an international court of
arbitration without specifying to which international court
Turkmenistan would apply. (reftel)


7. (SBU) COMMENT: The Turkmen Government's approach and

ASHGABAT 00000995 002 OF 002


arguments outlined above were likely developed by local
lawyers, and, according to a local legal expert, Turkmenistan
does not have skilled lawyers in the field of international
maritime law (reftel). As a result, the above arguments and
approach might change when the Turkmen government engages
international law experts on this issue, as instructed by
President Berdimuhamedov.


8. (SBU) COMMENT CONTINUED: The article, which also appeared
in the Turkmen-language "Turkmenistan" newspaper, seems to be
intended for both foreign and domestic audiences and is part
of a larger information campaign initiated by the Turkmen
government inside the country. Since President
Berdimuhamedov's July 24 statement, the state-owned Altyn
Asyr TV channel has aired at least two programs that explained
Turkmenistan's stance on the Caspian delimitation issue. One
of the programs featured the Director of the State Agency for
Management and Use of Hydrocarbon Resources Yagshygeldi
Kakayev and Deputy Foreign Minister, Director of the State
Service for Caspian Sea Issues Toyly Komekov, who obviously
appeared on television per the President's instructions.
END COMMENT.

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