Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, the two Caspian littoral countries with rich hydrocarbon reserves, are on path to develop mutually beneficial relations.

"Azerbaijani-Turkmen relations are the best they have been since the fall of the Soviet Union," Bruce Pannier, an expert on Central Asia and Senior Correspondent at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, told Azernews.

He was commenting on a recent statement by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who said development of friendly relations with South Caucasian countries, in particular with Azerbaijan is of great significance for his country.

Pannier believes the Azerbaijani-Turkmen ties are much better now. For example, Turkmenistan reopened its embassy in Azerbaijan in 2008 after it had been closed since 2001.

However, it is not to say relations are great, he stressed.

"Ownership of the same three fields in the Caspian is still in dispute. There were some questions raised when Turkmenistan announced it planned to build up a navy, as some saw this aimed at keeping Azerbaijan from pushing its claim for the three fields," he noted.

Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have three disputed fields in the Caspian Sea - Azeri, Chirag and Kepez fields (these fields are called Omar, Osman and Serdar, respectively, in Turkmenistan).

The presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan see the need to export their countries' gas to Europe and that has helped bring Ilham Aliyev and Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov closer together, he thinks.

"The two have jointly said Caspian countries sharing a maritime border should be able to, for example, construct an undersea pipeline [the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline] that would only be on the territories of the two countries involved in the project," Pannier noted.

The Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline with a length of around 300 kilometers will be laid from the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, where it will be linked to the Southern Gas Corridor. The pipeline's capacity is 30-40 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Iran and Russia have expressed their skepticism towards the project, saying that the construction of the pipeline may damage the Caspian Sea ecology.

"Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan in response have held seminars, forums, conferences and other international gatherings to discuss potential environmental dangers to the Caspian," Pannier said. "So the two countries are cooperating in that strategy, almost a legal case, of building up a mass of expert environmentalists' opinions supporting the feasibility of undersea pipelines in the Caspian without damaging the sea."

The expert believes it is in the economic interest of both countries to cooperate.

Turkmenistan has always been interested in the diversification of gas export routes and "selling its gas to Europe in as large of volumes as possible."

As to Azerbaijan, being the supplier of oil and gas, it has also regularly highlighted its potential as a transit country for the oil and gas that comes from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

"Some Turkmen oil has already been exported to Europe through the BTC pipeline, so both sides understand the basic logistics," Pannier added.

Pannier believes the international investors looking for the possibility of some 50 billion to 60 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas making its way annually to Europe would be very interested in entering pipeline projects connecting the eastern Caspian to Azerbaijan and then to Europe.

"Azerbaijan could get a huge new pipeline network built and paid for mainly by foreign companies and Baku would collect transit fee money," he said.

So, the EU and other countries are doing their best to persuade Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to resolve all outstanding issues and enter a new era of cooperation that will prove beneficial for many countries, Pannier noted.

New aspects for cooperation

Süreyya Yigit, the advisor of the Turkish Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM) on Eurasia told Azernews that both Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have claims to the sources of the Caspian Sea and one aspect of developing close relations is the fair and equitable division of natural resources between them.

Yigit believes the two countries can assist each other in energy diversification by settling equitably differences over the Caspian and entering into joint energy infrastructure projects.

"Both countries desire to increase the number of avenues to export their natural resources. One joint venture could be to engage in the construction of a Caspian underwater pipeline connecting Turkmen oil to the BTC which could also incorporate Kazakh oil," he said.

Yigit noted the potential advantage to Baku could be that this pipeline could also transport oil west to east, thus channeling Azerbaijani oil towards China.

"This is a hypothetical development, but certainly it would enable the Turkmens to participate in the BTC pipeline," he said.

Yigit believes closer people-to-people contacts and projects bringing the two countries citizens in face-to-face contact will inevitably be helpful to initiate better government-to-government relations and approaches. Also, educational exchanges as well as occupational bilateral seminars and visits are also avenues that need to be explored.

"Moreover, Azerbaijan has an opportunity to bring the Turkmens closer into the Turkic world, thus strengthening its own position in the Caucasus, hopefully helping to solve the Karabakh problem, which is an ongoing bleeding wound for not all Azeribaijanis but Turks too," Yigit concluded.