Iran’s presence in Aktau may impede determining Caspian Sea legal status: political expert

“But given the existing realities and if are willing agree on a final, legal status of the Caspian Sea, we must move forward and not collect a large number of states that will inhibit this process and put a spoke in the wheel,” he said.

“Iran initially was not interested in resolving this matter, because Iran believes that division of the Caspian Sea should proceed on some principle well-known only to it, under which half of the Caspian Sea as a result will be owned by Iran,” he added.

Sadigov said Turkmenistan is the only country with which Azerbaijan has no agreement on the Caspian Sea.

“I think that Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan which already have a tripartite agreement will be able to convince Turkmenistan to take a step forward to sign an agreement on the status of the Caspian Sea which has already been signed by the three countries,” he said.

“The problems are more complicated with respect to Iran. Of course, if you look in fact, Iran is not invited to Aktau as presence of Iran with its reluctance to make a compromise with other countries may impede a final determination of the Caspian sea status,” the political expert said.

“It is clear that Iran, which is also Caspian littoral state, will not remain aloof from this process. But, nevertheless, once all CIS countries, interested in fair division of the Caspian Sea and in determining its legal status, sign documents, it will be much easier for those countries to agree with Iran,” he added.

/Day.Az/