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By Rashid Shirinov

The legal status of the Caspian Sea, which has been the subject of a dispute between Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran since the early 1990s, can be determined at the next summit of the heads of state of Central Asia in Astana, Russian president’s special representative for humanitarian and economic cooperation with the Caspian countries Ramazan Abdulatipov told Russian media on July 6.

“After the collapse of the Soviet Union and a number of independent states formed, five countries (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran) gained access to the Caspian Sea, and a dispute arose about the legal status of this territory,” he said. “The discussion and attempts to resolve this dispute and determine the legal status of the Caspian Sea have been going on for more than 25 years, and only now, as our diplomats say, we are finally approaching the point where all five countries can come to an agreement.”

Abdulatipov added that it is quite hard to talk about active economic cooperation without this document, and further delay in determining the status of the Caspian Sea will lead to aggravation of environmental problems.

“It is no exaggeration to say that the Caspian Sea is already on the verge of a catastrophe in a number of issues, and the Tehran convention on the preservation of the Caspian Sea, signed a few years ago, is not very efficient,” he added.

The difficulties in determining the status of the Caspian Sea were linked, in particular, with the recognition of it as a lake or sea, the delineation of which is regulated by different provisions of international law. The leaders of the five countries met for the first time in 2002 in Ashgabat. The second Caspian summit was held in Tehran in 2007, the third one in Baku in 2010, and the fourth summit – in Astrakhan in 2014.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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