 | 'Caspian hurricane' still ongoing |
Hurricanes do not usually happen in the Caspian and even when they do they take place in cold months and barely affect the coastal population. The latest storm in the Sea erupted on a cold summer day, July 23, around Azerbaijan’s Alov field and seems to have pretty much frustrated the people of Azerbijan. As if this was not enough, Turkmenistan further inflamed tensions in the region by renewing its territorial claims for some fields in the Caspian. By Emil Bagirov & Elmira Vezirova Azernews Staff Writers
However, the calmness and confidence with which President Aliyev attended to the matter and the preference to a negotiated solution of the standoff seems to have allayed the anxiety. The question is for how long.
As is evident from the materials below, the end to the bickering is not in sight yet, as Tehran nor Baku claim to be the just party.
‘Avoiding misunderstanding’
Iranian television said Monday that Iran's foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi has welcomed Azeri President Aliyev's statement that problems pertaining to the Caspian should be resolved through negotiations.
Mr. Kharrazi said the Azeri President had highlighted the need for developing and expanding relations with Iran on the basis of mutually beneficial cooperation in a meeting with Iranian ambassador.
Underscoring Iran's desire to establish good relations with its neighbors, Mr. Kharrazi said his country would do its best to secure its interests in the Caspian.
According to the Iranian minister, all Caspian nations must take into account the positions of other littoral states and avoid taking any steps that could lead to misunderstanding.
Mr. Kharrazi called on the coastal nations to abide by Caspian agreements signed in 1921 and 1940, to hold permanent discussions in order to lift the ambiguity. The minister then voiced Iran's readiness to hold negotiations with Baku.
Indignation in Iran
Iranian Foreign Ministry appears to be extremely astonished with the protest campaign launched in Azerbaijan in the wake of an unabashed intrusion on part of Iranian military intrusion in Azerbaijan's air space and territorial waters on July 23. The Iranian military reportedly threatened the Azerbaijan research vessel with the use of force. A high-ranking Iranian diplomat has labeled the indignation in Azerbaijan as a "propagandistic move", saying that Iran simply defended its rights and interests in the Caspian and warned Azerbaijan not to engage in any operations on the disputed area until the Caspian status problem was resolved.
Although some opposition parties openly lambaste the position of the Azerbaijan authorities in the incident, public sentiments in Azerbaijan are unequivocal: Iran is taking advantage of Azerbaijan's immaturity and the state of war with Armenia by putting forward ungrounded territorial claims.
It is particularly bewildering that prior to the break-up of the Soviet Union Iran had no claims for the territory, which had been explored by Azeri geologists for half a century.
"This incident has further tattered the already precarious authority of the Iranian government in the Azerbaijan public opinion", experts think.
‘No changes in oil strategy'
SOCAR president Natig Aliyev said in his televised nationwide address last week that the research vessel "Geophysical-3" had arrived at Alov on July 19 to tackle the survey of the seabed and water in the Araz-Alov-Sharg prospect.
"When the vessel was approached by an Iranian warship, which demanded, in an ultimatum-like fashion and under gunpoint, that we leave the area, we had to call back our vessel for reasons of safety", N. Aliyev said.
Touching upon the position of foreign companies, the SOCAR president indicated that none of them has any doubt whatsoever as to the fact that this offshore section is within the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan.
"We regard the Iranian crew's action as absolutely illegal. For SOCAR, this is an unprecedented and extraordinary event", he said.
N. Aliyev went on to say that SOCAR specialists had been involved in the preparation of the Foreign Ministry note and added that he was waiting for the Iranian party's soonest explanation of how the incident could have happened.
The SOCAR president then described the Caspian status issue as a very complex one, mentioning that it had been discussed on all levels since 1994.
"Iran sticks to a position that after the collapse of the USSR the Caspian must be divided into 5 equal parts. I don't think such position is sensible and neither Azerbaijan nor any other coastal nation will agree to such a division", he said.
N. Aliyev emphasized that Azerbaijan's oil strategy would not suffer any changes.
"Not a single country or force can reverse the course of events. Neither can this incident take a toll on our oil strategy", N. Aliyev declared.
The next Caspian summit is scheduled for October 25-27 in Ashgabat.
Work temporarily suspended
Work on the Araz-Alov-Sharg prospect has been temporarily suspended following the incident, project operator BP said last week. The company explains the decision by the interests of safety of its employees and other people involved.
BP is currently in talks with SOCAR and other contract partners to determine directions of future activities.
Whether or not work on the prospect will be resumed depends on the negotiations between Azerbaijan and Iran, the company said.
Pro-Iranian propaganda
Pro-Iranian religious figures in Azerbaijan's southern provinces have received a new task from Iran's intelligence bodies, says the assistant to the chairman of the Turkic Nationalist Party Elnur Fateh.
They have been urged to conduct funeral rituals free of charge or at a preferential price for the socially vulnerable and to pursue pro-Iranian propaganda by coercing the local population to cooperate with Iran's intelligence.
The party said in a statement that such clerics manage to a certain extent to attain their goal and the Ministry of National Security has to take resolute measures.
Tehran conceals true causes
According to some Iranian media, Tehran has launched a campaign of misinforming the people, in particular in the Azeri-populated eastern and western provinces of Iran, as to the causes of the July 23 incident in the Caspian.
Some sources say Azeri military ships allegedly trespassed the state border of Iran and entered the territorial waters of Iran. Fearing anxiety on part of local Azerbaijanis, Iranian secret service blocked radio broadcasts from Baku using special electronic equipment. As a result, the population of the eastern and western provinces was deprived of the opportunity to receive radio or television information from Azerbaijan.
At the present time, ANS private television company has managed to change its broadcast frequencies and is able to reach out to the mentioned territories.
Turkmenistan follows suit
4 days after an Iranian warship compelled Azerbaijan's research vessel "Geophysical-3" to leave the Alov field, the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry received a protest note from Turkmen foreign office whereby Ashgabat complains on "illegitimate actions in the Caspian Sea".
Observers are inclined to characterize the developments as joint offensive launched by Iran and Turkmenistan. This grouping is particularly evident in the approaches of the littoral countries toward the legal status problem of the Sea, where Russia's position differs from everyone else's, while the positions of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan and of Turkmenistan and Iran largely overlap.
The Turkmen diplomatic note says that Azerbaijan continues development operations on "disputed territories in the Caspian Sea", referring to Chirag (also referred to as Osman in Turkmenistan), Azeri (Khazar) and Sharg fields. Ashgabat is warning Baku that responsibility for potential consequences will have to be borne by the party "guilty of violating international legal norms".
According to Iran's deputy minister for oil industry Hussein Kazimpur, Iran has already issued a harsh warning to Azerbaijan and is no longer responsible for what may happen.
Azeri media have also published a statement by Kazakh Foreign Ministry, which says that the use of force or the threat of using it to resolve differences in the Caspian represent violation of the UN Charter, fundamental principles of international cooperation, agreements among littoral countries and a factor capable of adversely influencing the process of negotiations over the Caspian legal status.
Embassy dismissing speculations
Azeri media have been quoting Iran's "Tehran Times" newspaper as reporting that Iranian Armed Forces have concentrated on the border with Azerbaijan, which authorities in Tehran explain by Azerbaijan's determination to push ahead with exploration operations on disputed offshore blocks.
Azernews has telephoned a spokesman for the Iranian embassy in Azerbaijan, who has vehemently dismissed Azeri media publications.
Iranian ambassador Ahad Gazai left for Tehran Saturday morning for what the embassy described as "family reasons". The true cause for the visit is believed to have been the diplomat's desire to inform his government of the results of his meeting with President Aliyev on July 25.
Russia simply sorry
Asked by Azeri media to comment on a recent incident between Azerbaijan and Iran in the Caspian Sea, Russian Foreign Ministry representative A. Yakovenko said, "We regret that the incident should have happened between two friendly nations and believe that Caspian must become a region of peace and stability, mutual confidence and equal cooperation.
"We think the parties must be in direct touch with each other when dealing with such situations and exercise restraint to a maximum extent possible. What has happened confirms once again the need to speed up the determination of the legal status of the Caspian", the diplomat said.
‘Easy to understand’
"While the legal status of the Caspian remains unresolved, Azerbaijan has allowed foreign companies to operate a disputed field. Therefore, Iran's reaction to the development of southern offshore fields is not too difficult to understand", "Echo" newspaper quoted the co-chair of the Azerbaijan Social Democratic Party Araz Alizadeh and deputy chairman of the Azerbaijan Islamic Party Rovshan Karbalai as saying Thursday.
Addressing a meeting of the Pro-Azerbaijan Forces, R. Karbalai described Azerbaijan's current political course as counter-national and pro-western. Azerbaijan lets other countries to the region, while Iran believes that this poses a threat to its national security and its concerns are justifiable, he thinks.
According to A. Alizadeh, the statements of protest by the government and pickets outside the Iranian embassy in Baku by some opposition forces are redundant.
Imperial moods
Every time when political tensions run high between Azerbaijan and Iran, nationalist-minded youngsters in Baku picket Iranian embassy and burn its Iranian flags, while activists in Iran maintain that the territory of Azerbaijan used to belong to Iran.
It is astonishing that this territorial claim to a sovereign country and a subject of international law comes from the circles close to the Iranian government.
The Union for Integral Azerbaijan issued a statement on Monday quoting the former commander of Iran's Revolution Guard as saying that "Iran considers Azerbaijan as its own territory".
Touching upon the confrontation between the two nations over the disputed fields in the Caspian, secretary of the Iranian State Consultative Council Mohsun Rezai said in his address to Baku, "Do not make Iran claim Azerbaijan back. 170 years ago Azerbaijan was an Iranian province and was then taken over by Russia."
"Over 30 million Azeris dwelling in Iran regard the Azerbaijan Republic their country", the UIA said.
Tehran's allegations have stirred harsh feelings in Azerbaijan, as Musavat chairman Isa Gambar disclosed the position of the Democratic Congress he is leading after its Monday's session. Describing M. Rezai's statement as crude interference with Azerbaijan's internal affairs, I. Gambar said the Congress was vehemently opposed to it.
"While they say Mr. Rezai's position is not necessarily that of Iran's, we have to respond to such statements. Let them not make us appeal to the 30 million Azeris living in Iran. Let them exercise restraint. Let them not think that if the current leaders of Azerbaijan take a lenient stance toward the issue, that the people of Azerbaijan will stand this outright infringement upon their rights and interests", I. Gambar said.
ADP renounces Iranian impudence
The Azerbaijan Democratic Party secretary general Sardar Jalaloglu met with the advisor to the Iranian embassy for political issues Abulfaz Sharifi at the party's headquarters Tuesday, ADP said in a statement.
During the meeting initiated by the Iranian diplomat, S. Jalaloglu voiced his party's protest to Iran's pressure on Azerbaijan and territorial claims. A. Sharifi explained the incident in the Caspian by Azerbaijan's having ignored Iran's earlier protests.
Picket outside Iranian Publishing House
The Union for Integral Azerbaijan held a picket outside Iranian Publishing House "Alhuda" in Baku Saturday. Around 100 protesters took part in the action voicing their indignation over the incident in the Caspian Sea of July 23. The crowd chanted "Respond to Iran's actions", "Shut down Alhuda", "Azerbaijan's borders are inviolable", etc. Police prevented protesters from burning the Iranian national flag.
"This is our third picket in Baku. In the near future we will hold protest actions in front of Iranian consulates in Nakhchivan and Turkey", deputy chairman of the Union Chingiz Goyturk said.
According to him, Iran's Azeri-speaking population has started a signature-collecting campaign condemning Iran's aggression against Azerbaijan.
Civil Unity condemns Iran's new air raid
An Iranian spy plane entered Azerbaijan's air space on July 29, roaring for around 4 hours not only above Azerbaijan's Caspian Sea sector but also heading for Baku. With 160km left for the Azeri capital, the plane diverted southwards, the Civil Solidarity Party said in a statement on Tuesday.
The second intrusion of an Iranian aircraft into Azerbaijan's air space in the past week comes amid a massive anti-Azerbaijan drive on Iranian television.
The statement condemns Iran's behavior and declares announces that the people of Azerbaijan will not stand such a flagrant interference with its internal affairs. It says further that the Azerbaijan government must put an end to the loyal and compromising policy toward Iran and consider further action in accordance with the will of the Azerbaijan people.
Opposition support
The pro-Musavat Democratic Congress has condemned Iran's aggressive action against Azerbaijan, saying that it illustrated Tehran's desire to destabilize the situation in the whole region, the Congress said in a session Thursday.
It was announced that DemCongress would support all steps being taken by the authorities to protect Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.
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Issue No.N31 (213), 2001
'Caspian hurricane' still ongoingIraqi minister for religious affairs in BakuPresident changes iranian-azeri commission make-upNews digestNationOpposition newsEcologyBusinessOil & gas news
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