Jets and politics in the Persian
Gulf By Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh and
Kaveh L Afrasiabi
Politics
and the aircraft business have never been strangers, but
in July they proved to be linked in a big way
when the national airlines of the United Arab Emirates
and Turkey announced that together they had invested
about US$10 billion to buy European-made Airbus aircraft.
To avoid feud and crying foul by the rival US Boeing,
they invested less than half that amount buying jets
from the United States.
Word of the
contract for the French-based aircraft maker came as
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan completed
an official three-day visit to France, where he
had lobbied political and business leaders to support Turkey's
entry into the European Union.
Turkish
Airlines announced subsequently on July 21 that it would
buy 36 planes worth $3 billion from Airbus and fewer
than half that amount from Boeing.
France is
playing an especially important role in determining
whether Turkey will be allowed to begin membership
negotiations with the EU because it appeared to be the
sole European heavyweight deeply divided on the
question. Yet the aircraft purchase for political favor
could not have been more obvious. Crucial talks on the
issue are scheduled for December.
Less
conspicuous, however, was the UAE's business deal with
the Europeans a day earlier to purchase Airbus in return
for a joint EU-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
declaration in late May of support for Abu Dhabi's
position on the issue of its claims on three
Iranian-held islands in the Persian Gulf.
Website theestimate.com describes the importance
of the islands as such: "One reason is the strategic
location of the islands astride the shipping lanes
through the Strait of Hormuz; this potential military
value overlays and enhances other incentives, such as
the question of offshore oil in the islands' territorial
limits and the prestige element of dynastic claims,
which have been part of almost all Gulf boundary
disputes."
It was reported on
July 20 that Etihad Airways, the national airline of
the UAE, had selected Airbus's wide-body long-range
aircraft and the new-generation double-deck Airbus A380 for
its future growth. The Abu Dhabi-based full-service
airline has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU)
to purchase 24 Airbus aircraft, including four of
the revolutionary A380s, four ultra-long-range A340-500s,
four A340-600s and 12 A330-200s, the most efficient
wide-body twin.
The
airline has also taken options to purchase 12 additional
aircraft, the types of which will be defined in due course.
The total value of the agreement is in excess of $7
billion. The airline had spent about $3 billion buying Boeing
to keep Airbus's US rival happy.
There had been no mention of negotiations for and
agreement on the purchase of these aircraft
having taken place simultaneously when the negotiations
between EU ministers and GCC officials resulted in
the announcement of their joint declaration of May 19. Yet
as these negotiations were conducted and an
understanding reached through the joint EU-GCC commission for
commerce, little doubt remains as to the connection between the
two. In addition, the GCC, however, had promised to
offer free-trade zones to the EU in the Persian Gulf region. The
UAE has been trying to politicize and internationalize
the issue of its claims on the said islands for a long
time.
As in the way the Arabs began to
refer to the Palestinian lands occupied by Israel
as the "Occupied Arabic Lands" to make the issue a
cause celebre at the Arab world level,
Abu Dhabi too has been referring to the islands of Tunbs
and Abu Musa as the "Occupied Arab Islands" to turn the
issue of its claims on these islands into a cause
celebre at the Middle East level as a symbol of Arab
national resistance to Iranian influence in the Persian
Gulf. Abu Dhabi has had some success in this regard and
the Arab-Iranian cooperation for peace in the region has
been negatively affected in recent months.
In
fact, the recent agreement or understanding with the EU
took place through negotiations by the GCC (members
include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman,
in addition to the UAE). The Iranians for their part,
however, deny that there is any dispute on Iran's
ownership of these islands. They further argue that the
islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa were
returned to Iran on November 30, 1971, through legal
processes, including the signing of an MoU, before the
state of the UAE was created.
They argue that according
to international regulations no state can defy the
agreements that had come into being before its creation,
unless such agreements had been officially declared
null and void by the newly created state. Not only
did the UAE not declare the arrangements arrived at by
Iran and Britain (acting as the government of the emirates
of Sharjah and Ras al-Kheimah at the time) on the
return of the three islands, but also the Supreme Council
of the Union decided in its meeting of May 12, 1992,
that foreign obligations of the member emirates
prior to the formation of the union of Arab Emirates
will be the obligations of the union itself.
Moreover, in the circular of October 27, 1992, distributed
among the representatives of United Nations member
states, Abu Dhabi asked Iran to adhere to the
terms of its November 1971 MoU with Sharjah. Hence
laying claims on islands returned to Iran before the
formation of the UAE, through legal processes acceptable
to the UAE, cannot be legally admissible.
Moreover, they argue that in the meeting of May
12, 1992, of the Supreme Council of the UAE, the emir of
Sharjah, who was Iran's original partner in the 1971 MoU,
refused to pass his emirate's authority over the issue
of Abu Musa Island to the UAE leaders and left the
meeting.
Hence the UAE leadership's action in
assuming authority for the case of Abu Musa Island in
that meeting, in the absence of the ruler of Sharjah and
without his consent, renders any claim by Abu Dhabi on
that island not in complete harmony with the legality of
the issue.
Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh is
professor of geopolitics at Tarbiat Modares University
in Tehran and director of Eurosevic Foundation in
London. Kaveh L Afrasiabi is a political
scientist and author of books and articles on Iran's
foreign policy.
(Copyright 2004 Asia Times
Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for
information on our sales and syndication
policies.)
Aug 27, 2004
No
material from Asia Times Online may be republished in any form without written
permission.
Copyright
2003, Asia Times Online, 4305 Far East Finance Centre, 16 Harcourt Rd,
Central, Hong Kong
