LOOKING FOR A WAY TO RESOLVE THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE CASPIAN SEA: INTERNATIONAL LAW PROVIDES NO ANSWER
Abstract
As early as the 18th-19th centuries, the political disagreements among Great Britain, Russia, and Turkey over the Caspian Sea region brought about significant changes in its diplomatic reality. After World War I and II, the policy of the great powers also changed the diplomatic landscape of this region, which, despite all of the disputes, remained in the center of international attention. Control over the Caspian began to largely be viewed within the framework of the influence of the two main powers in the region: the Soviet Union and Persia.
Later, when geological research determined the potential of the minerals on the seabed, particularly oil and natural gas, the world once more turned its attention to the region, this time for economic considerations. By the second half of the 20th century, globalization and the world market had become part and parcel of current reality, which meant that economic interests too had spread far beyond the framework of the national market. The sea’s status was settled between Iran and the Soviet Union: it was divided according to the principle of common usage or condominium (common property). But no mention was made of ownership, division, or use of the sea’s resources, thus the question of the Caspian’s legal status has become pertinent.
The situation became even more aggravated at the beginning of the 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the formation of the new sovereign states in the region. The former Soviet republics, countries that are now independent of Moscow’s policy, along with Iran and the Soviet Union’s legal successor, Russia, began to declare their rights to the resources of the Caspian Sea, and its legal status became one of the most important and difficult-to-resolve international problems. It has been difficult to find a satisfactory answer for all the parties concerned to a question that affects national interests, the environmental aspects of the Caspian Basin, the interests of oil and gas companies, as well as the very sensitive security problems of the world powers
Downloads
References
See: U. Suleimenov, E. Karagianis, “Kazakhstan i iuridicheskie raznoglasiia v otnoshenii Kaspiiskogo moria,”
Central Asian Journal, No. 4, 2004, p. 109.
See: A. Abishev, Kaspii: neft i politika, Almaty, 2002, p. 159.
See: G.B. Khan, L.S. Suvorov, G.B. Rakhmanova, Vneshniaia politika Respubliki Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan State
Law Academy, Almaty, 2001, p. 268.
See: A. Abishev, op. cit., p. 168.
See: G.B. Khan, L.S. Suvorov, G.B. Rakhmanova, op. cit., p. 275.
See: A. Abishev, op. cit., p. 168.
Ibid., p. 201.
See: U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982, Art 3, available at [http://www.un.org/Depts/los/
convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf].
See: Ibid., Art 57.
See: Ibid., Art 76:1.
See: Ibid., Art 15.
See: [http://www.centrasia.ru/newsA.php4?Month=10&Day=3&Year=2002].
See: A. Abishev, op. cit., p. 201.
See: Official site of the LUKoil Company, available at [http://www.lukoil.com/materials/doc/DataBook/DBP/2007/
FactBook/part3.pdf, http://www.lukoil.ru/static_6_5id255.html].
See: Ibidem.
See: L. Kleveman, The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia, Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, 2003,
p. 65.
See: V. Guseinov, op. cit., p. 199.
See: Ibidem.
See: A.M. Butaev, “Pravovoi status i problemy edinstva i raznoobraziia ekosistem Kaspiia,” in: Mezhdunarodnaia
konferentsiia: Kaspii: pravovye problemy, Moscow, 26-27 February, 2002.
See: A. Kolesnikov, “Raznoglasiia vybrosili v more,” Kommersant, No. 190 (3766), 17 October, 2007.
See: Mezhdunarodnaia konferentsiia: Kaspii: pravovye problemy, Moscow, 26-27 February, 2002.
See: S. Blagov, J. Lillis, “Despite Lack of Progress, Caspian Summit Leaves Participants Optimistic,” Business &
Economics [Eurasianet.org], 17 October, 2007.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2008 Author
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation .
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
