Toward regional co-operation in the Caspian:a legal perspective

One of the most “spectacular” contests over the riches of the Caspian Sea is currently being waged by four former Soviet Union republics (Azerbaijan, Kazakstan, Russia and Turkmenistan) and Iran. (For a more detailed summary of the background to this controversy, see [40, 39, 15, 21].) The demise of the Soviet Union and emergence of new independent States have drastically changed the entire geopolitical situation in the Caspian region. The extant legal regime of the Caspian Sea, based on the outdated but still valid agreements between the former Soviet Union and Iran, is no longer sufficient to deal with the host of complex political, economic and environmental problems affecting the region. The situation is aggravated by unilateral claims of the riparian States to the sea. Although the coastal States are currently discussing how the regime of the Caspian Sea might be resolved, the dispute is not yet settled and the potential for growing international tension is evident