Azerbaijan protests Turkmen oil exploration in Caspian

BAKU – Azerbaijan is protesting Turkmen oil exploration activity in a disputed Caspian Sea deposit, media reported June 18-19.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry June 18 summoned Turkmen Ambassador to Azerbaijan Toyly Komekov and delivered a protest note concerning the exploration of Kiapaz (also called Serdar), the ministry said in a statement, according to news media.

The exploration violates a Turkmen-Azerbaijani agreement signed in 2008, the ministry said, warning, “Azerbaijan preserves the right to take appropriate measures.”

The Turkmen Foreign Ministry protested “illegal actions (taken June 16) by the Azerbaijani Border Service toward a civilian vessel that was doing scientific research in a Caspian Sea sector that had no relation to Azerbaijan,” the Turkmen Embassy in Baku said in a statement that RIA Novosti received June 19.