Baku, Fineko/abc.az. Official Baku believes in vigour of pre-court mechanisms of resolution of territorial disputes.

Today in Baku deputy foreign minister Khalaf Khalafov of Azerbaijan voiced a hope for resolution of disagreements with Turkmenistan on the occasion of delimitation of national sectors in the Caspian Sea without international court.

“We are sure that within the further negotiations we will be able to achieve coordination of this matter and obtain rapprochement of our positions,” Khalaforv said.

He added that Turkmenistan was considering a possibility of applying to international arbitration only as one of the probable options of development of events but so far no application of such kind was made.

“Azerbaijan can also consider all diplomatic ways to tackle the problem, but at the current stage the sides are inclined to settle the problem in a way of bilateral talks,” the deputy minister said.

The dispute relates to method of middle line laying in the Caspian to delimitate Azerbaijani and Turkmen sectors. According to Azerbaijan’s methodology, the line to be laid will make field Kapaz (Turkmen version: Serdar) trans-border, while Turkmenistan’s one “takes” Kapaz/Serdar field for itself as well as field Azeri that has been developed since 1994 by consortium AIOC (Azerbaijan International Operating Company).

22.01.2010 11:57