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[The very last paragraph tells the real story: "Turkey
also has interests in the Caspian Sea, advocating a
multi-billion dollar pipeline project to carry Azeri
crude oil to Western markets via Georgia."
As the danger of military confrontation between Iran
and Azerbaijan grows greater, the U.S. has served Iran
with a warning that it will support the
Turkey-Georgia-Azerbaijan alliance.
The first two countries don't border on the Caspian,
of course, but are considered by the West to be key
players in the latter's oil grab there.]
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2001
THE TIMES OF INDIA
US slams Iranian incursions into Azeri airspace
WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday slammed Iran
for violating the airspace of Azerbaijan in a series
of incidents that it said were "provocative" and hurt
efforts to peacefully resolve territorial disputes in
the Caspian region.
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said
Washington had been able to confirm a number of
reports beginning from the end of last month that
Iranian aircraft had violated Azerbaijan's airspace.
"Such actions are provocative and further, they're
counterproductive to efforts to achieve a peaceful
resolution of Caspian boundary disputes," Reeker told
reporters.
He declined to say how the United States had been able
to confirm the reports which have been denied by the
Iran.
Azeri officials have said that Iranian aircraft have
been entering the country's airspace in moves that
have further stoked tension between the countries
which are locked in a border dispute over the Caspian
Sea.
Rising tensions over the incursions followed an
incident earlier last month in which an Iranian
warship trained its guns on an Azeri oil research
vessel in a disputed sector of the resource-rich
Caspian.
That incident cast a shadow over the
multi-billion-dollar development of the Caspian's oil
reserves with the participation of Western companies
and Russia, Georgia and Turkey have all called for the
dispute to be settled through negotiation.
Reeker said the United States, like the Russians,
Georgians and Turks would like to see the dispute
resolved with talks.
"The United States supports negotiation among the
littoral states of the Caspian Sea to settle the
question of boundaries," he said.
"We firmly support Azerbaijan and all other countries
which choose negotiation, not confrontation, as a path
to those goals."
Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Russia
have been unable to agree on how to share the
Caspian's wealth since the collapse of the Soviet
Union 10 years ago.
Iran insists that all five Caspian countries receive
an equal 20 percent portion of the sea, which would
cut into the sectors Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have
already marked out for themselves.
Turkey also has interests in the Caspian Sea,
advocating a multi-billion dollar pipeline project to
carry Azeri crude oil to western markets via Georgia.
( AFP )
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