International Disputes
Negotiations related to the demarcation of the Caspian Sea have been going on for nearly a decade among the states bordering the Caspian – Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran.
The status of the Caspian Sea is the key problem. There are three major considerations affected by the Caspian Sea status: access to mineral resources (oil and natural gas), access for fishing and access to international waters (through Russia's Volga river and the canals connecting it to the Black Sea and Baltic Sea). Access to the Volga River is particularly important for the landlocked states of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. This matter is of course sensitive to Russia, because this potential traffic will move through its territory (albeit onto the inland waterways). If a body of water is labeled as Sea then there would be some precedents and international treaties obliging the granting of access permits to foreign vessels. If a body of water is labeled merely as lake then there are no such obligations. Environmental issues are also somewhat connected to the status and borders issue.
It should be mentioned that Russia got the bulk of the former Soviet Caspian military fleet (and also currently has the most powerful military presence in the Caspian Sea). Some assets were assigned to Azerbaijan. Kazakhstan and especially Turkmenistan got a very small share because they lack major port cities.
According to a treaty signed between Iran (Persia) and the Soviet Union, the Caspian Sea is technically a lake and it is to be divided into two sectors (Persian and Soviet), but the resources (then mainly fish) would be commonly shared. The line between the two sectors was to be seen as an international border in a common lake, like Lake Albert. Also the Soviet sector was sub-divided into administrative sectors of the four littoral republics.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union not all of the newly independent states assumed continuation of the old treaty. At first Russia and Iran announced that they would continue to adhere to the old treaty.
After the old Soviet Union split into fifteen nations, including Caspian Sea neighbors Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, Iran has called for an equal division of the Caspian Sea among the five countries: Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia. If this division does not come to pass, then Iran intends to recognize only its old treaty (between Iran and Russia) and will challenge Russia to divide its 50% share among the three littoral states – Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan – over a more friendly position toward the West and the U.S., such as opening of U.S. interest section in Tehran.
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan announced that they do not consider themselves parties to this treaty.
Later followed some proposals for common agreement between all littoral states about the status of the sea:
- Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan insisted that the sectors should be based on the median line, thus giving each state a share proportional to its Caspian coastline length. Also the sectors would form part of the sovereign territory of the particular state (thus making them international borders and also allowing each state to deal with all resources within its sector as it wishes unilaterally).
- Iran insisted that the sectors should be such that each state gets a 1/5 share of the whole Caspian Sea. This was advantageous to Iran, because it has a proportionally smaller coastline.
- Russia proposed a somewhat compromising solution: the seabed (and thus mineral resources) to be divided along sectoral lines (along the two above-described variants), the surface (and thus fishing rights) to be shared between all states (with the following variations: the whole surface to be commonly shared; each state to receive an exclusive zone and one single common zone in the center to be shared. The second variant is deemed not practical, because of the small size of the whole sea).
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