AZERBAIJAN: NO JITTERS OVER TURKMENISTAN’S CASPIAN SEA THREAT

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Turkmenistan’s pledge to take Azerbaijan to court over the two countries’ rival claims to Caspian Sea oil fields has sparked more confusion than anger in Baku. Some Azerbaijani experts even believe that an international arbitration hearing could prove the best way to resolve a long-standing energy dispute.

At a special July 24 government meeting in Ashgabat, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov to have lawyers investigate the legitimacy of Azerbaijan’s claims to the Omar, Osman and Serdar fields. These fields are known as Azeri, Chirag and Kapaz in Baku. Berdymukhamedov also expressed a desire to probe the legality of foreign energy companies’ participation in the fields’ development. Berdymukhamedov called for the lawyers’ findings to be sent to an unspecified international arbitration court, according to the Turkmen state-owned TDH news agency.

The fact that a BP-led consortium has already begun development work in the Omar/Azeri and Osman/Chirag fields under a 1994 agreement with Azerbaijan suggests that Baku holds a "one-sided" approach to the issue, Berdymukhamedov said. "Such one-sided work practices in the Caspian are unacceptable for Turkmenistan."