This was announced by former Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pakayin. According to him, some people in Iran still have the misconception that Iran's share in the Caspian Sea should be 50%. However, there was no agreement or law in any historical period, not even during the Soviet era, that would have set Iran's share at 50%.
"During the USSR, its coast was about 7 times larger than Iran's coast. Of course, there was no talk of a 50% share at that time. In addition, the USSR, as a superpower, didn't allow Iran to engage in shipping or fishing even within its designated 10-mile zone and created many obstacles," he said.
Pakayin noted that based on this, neither the claim to a 50% share nor the reference to the Astara-Huseyngulu line has a legal and realistic basis. Even one of the decisions of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea states that the lines assumed during the USSR period have no validity. The former ambassador noted that the provisions of this convention on ensuring the security of the Caspian Sea, keeping this sea in a non-military form, shipping, fishing, environmental protection, combating terrorism, and organized crime are in the interests of the countries.
"The issue of disagreement among the 5 littoral states is the determination of the starting line and the share of each country in the seabed and watershed. Some countries consider the Caspian Sea to be free and want the 1982 Convention on the Legal Status of the Sea to be applied, while Iran considers the Caspian to be a closed sea," he pointed out. Pakayin added that due to this serious disagreement, these issues were not included in the said convention.
All five countries agreed to leave aside the issues of disagreement and to reach an understanding on the cases where agreements were reached. Accordingly, this convention is based only on principles that are the common opinion of all countries and have a legal basis. The starting line and the share of each country are aimed at reaching bilateral or multilateral agreements between the countries concerned.
For example, Iran and Azerbaijan have signed cooperation agreements in joint areas such as the Alborz oil field, and Iran is continuing bilateral discussions with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. "Of course, the Iranian parliament should also carefully and thoroughly examine this convention, and the decision made by the parliament will be implemented by officials. As an expert, I believe that if this document is ratified soon, it will create more conditions for Iran to legally use the Caspian Sea.
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