Iran in a Reconnecting Eurasia by Milani Mohsen;

Author:Milani, Mohsen;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 4523141
Publisher: ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

TURKMENISTAN

Turkmenistan is arguably Iran’s closet partner in Central Asia. Iran was the first country to recognize Turkmenistan, a country with which it shares a long border. Despite some disagreements, such as the dispute over the legal status of the Caspian Sea, the relationship between Tehran and Ashgabat has been friendly and cooperative.43

In the same way it views Armenia as the gateway to Europe, Iran sees Turkmenistan as the gateway to Central Asia. Turkmenistan is Iran’s number-one trading partner among the eight countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, and Iran is Turkmenistan’s second largest trading partner, after Russia. In a meeting with Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow in Tehran in 2015, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani pledged to deepen Iran’s friendship with Turkmenistan and increase the volume of bilateral trade from its current $3.6 billion to $60 billion in 10 years.44 This projection is highly ambitious, if not unrealistic, but it does show the determination of both countries to expand their economic ties. Turkmenistan, like other Central Asian countries, is likely to benefit from the removal of sanctions on Iran.

One source of friction is pipelines. Turkmenistan supports the proposed Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP) that would link Turkmenistan under the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan and on to Turkey and Europe. Iran opposes TCGP because the pipeline would bypass Iran. Turkmenistan also has strongly lobbied in favor of the proposed 1,800-kilometer Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline, which would bypass Iran and must pass through the two unstable regions of Kandahar in Afghanistan and Quetta in Pakistan.45 Tehran has vehemently opposed this pipeline and has instead proposed a pipeline from Central Asia through Iran to India. That pipeline, Iran insists, would be shorter and safer than the proposed TAPI pipeline.46 With the landmark nuclear deal with Iran, Turkmenistan is getting nervous that Iran will emerge as a competitor for the South Asian markets it is targeting. Ashgabat is therefore intensifying its efforts to finalize a deal on TAPI before the sanctions are lifted.47

The two countries also jointly built the Dousti Dam, which in Persian means friendship, on the Hariroud River in 2005 on their borders. They have equal access to the dam, which may be used for a variety of functions, including irrigation and hydroelectric power.

Once the international sanctions on Iran are lifted in the early 2016, the existing economic ties between Iran and Turkmenistan are likely to be strengthened and expanded.

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