Azeri Press Says Caspian Summit Dominated By Iranian, Russian Agendas

Oct 17, 05:02 AM

Current Headlines: The following is a selection of quotes from articles and commentaries published in the 17 October 2007 editions of Azerbaijani newspapers in connection with the Caspian Sea summit held in Tehran on 16 October:

Yeni Musavat (opposition daily; www.musavat.com)

"As is seen from speeches made at the Tehran summit, an agreement on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea does not seem to be possible in practical terms... The positions of the five states do not coincide especially on the delimitation of the sea surface."

"Iran, which hosted the summit, insists that the Caspian be divided into five equal parts. Iran has a 13-per cent share in the Caspian and then some country should yield 7 per cent to Iran if what [Iranian President Mahmud] Ahmadinezhad said was to be followed. Iran sees Azerbaijan as a side which should accept a compromise, because Iran eyes numerous fields in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian. Turkmenistan has also a problem mainly with Azerbaijan. Asgabat claims that some major fields of hydrocarbons belong to it and accuses Baku of developing disputed fields in the Caspian unilaterally."

"Russia has already given its consent to the division of the Caspian bottom into national sections. However, Putin's speech showed that Moscow wants to turn the Caspian Sea surface into a zone of its military and economic influence. At the same time, Russia is against defining state borders on the Caspian Sea surface. This means that Russia wants to turn the Caspian into a free zone for its warships. It does not want other littoral states' sovereignty be ensured here. If the water borders are defined in the Caspian, then Azerbaijan and other littoral states will be independent in their activities within their national borders."

"Iran also states that its does not recognize any borders in the Caspian. At the same time, Iran and Russia may agree on the creation of joint navy forces in the Caspian... The Iranian-Russian position also coincides in the issue concerning the unacceptability of other states' military presence in the Caspian. It is clear that the point is about the USA, which shows interest in the Caspian region and is carrying out, along with Azerbaijan, the Caspian Guard security programme."

Zerkalo (independent Russian-language daily, www.zerkalo.az)

"Even a superficial analysis of the presidents' speeches allows us to conclude that the positions of the sides do not coincide on many issues. For instance, the Russian president proposed setting up a defensive military union in the Caspian. But the Kazakh president proposed demilitarizing the Caspian... In fact, why set up a certain defence union when the Caspian states pledge not only not to attack each other, but also not to allow thirds states to use their territory for aggression against one of the five? Everything is very simple. This is the way in which Russia is trying to ensure its military and political hegemony in the Caspian basin."

Ekspress (independent daily, www.express.com.az)

"Thus, the main result of the summit was the establishment of a regional Caspian body. Although this body is called 'economic' (Economic Cooperation Organization), it also has political aspects as is seen from the declaration (Points 14,15 18 and others). These 'political aspects' mainly meets Russia's and Iran's interests."

Gun Sahar (independent newspaper)

"Commenting on Point 15 in the declaration, political expert Zafar Quliyev said that some points in the document surprised him: 'The gist of the declaration pursues the interests of the Tehran- Moscow pair. It seems that this is the joint work of these countries. The document is of an anti-American nature - this is the case.'"

"Quliyev thinks that our country's agreement with that document's positions raises numerous questions: 'If you remember President [Ilham] Aliyev attended a GUAM summit in Vilnius some days ago. Anti- Russian statements were voiced at the summit. We now face a completely different position now. It is a strange and paradoxical situation. It seems that the Azerbaijani president in advance agrees with Moscow and Washington while taking such steps or the issues concerning the Armenian genocide issues raised against Turkey at the US congress played a role here.'"

Originally published by Quotes package from BBC Monitoring, in English 17 Oct 07.

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