Gulf of Piran
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The Gulf of Piran (Slovene: Piranski zaliv, Croatian: Piranski zaljev (rarely Savudrijska vala), Italian: Baia di Pirano), named after the town of Piran, is a gulf in the northern part of the Adriatic Sea and part of the Gulf of Trieste. It measures around 19 km².
It is delimited by line connecting point of Madona (Rt Madona, Slovenia) to point of Savudrija (Savudrijski rt, Croatia). The bay is divided between Croatia (sout) and Slovenia (north), but exact maritime border is a matter of dispute since 1991.
On the northern (slovenian) coast lay cities of Piran, Portorož and Lucija. On the southern, Croatian, coast are tourist camps (biuldt in 1980) of Crveni vrh and Kanegra.
The main river flowing into the bay is Dragonja, whose mouth marks the border between Croatia and Slovenia.
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[edit] Dispute
Since 1991, the border between Slovenia and Croatia in the Gulf of Piran has been disputed. The two countries disagree about the border, as it was never defined in the former Yugoslavia.
[edit] Croatian claims
Croatia claims that the border line should be equidistant from both shores. The claim is based on the Article 15 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea[1]. If slovenian claims of historical right would be proven true, this claims would be denied by the very same article.
[edit] Slovenian claims
Slovenian claim is based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (article 15, second sentence)[1], which stipulates historical claims and control of the seas supersedes other claims, as well as the treaty of mutual recognition between both countries, which fixes the border between the two countries on the borders existing on June 25, 1991, the date when Croatia and Slovenia declared independence.
According to Slovenia, Savudrija was connected with Piran throughout the centuries, and that Slovenian police, always controlled the whole gulf between 1954 (dissolution of the Free Territory of Trieste) and 1991 (breakup of Yugoslavia), so the whole gulf should belong to Slovenia. Historical control of Slovenia is disputed by Croatia[2].
Beside request for greater part of the bay, Slovenia is claiming rights to access to open seas and even proclaimed its own EEZ. According to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea[citation needed], that Slovenia ratified at July 6th 1992[citation needed], EEZ must be connected with territorial waters and territorial waters can extend up to 12 miles from the land. Slovenian territory is more that 15 miles[citation needed] from the open seas. Thus, slovenian claims for acces to open seas contradicts United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. If Slovenian EEZ would be accepted, every point of it would be closest to Croatia and also closer to Italy that to Slovenia, which also contradicts[citation needed] United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
[edit] United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
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According to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in case of dispute, both side should restrain from crossing the equidistant line[citation needed]. Croatian fishermen have respected the equidistant line since the dispute started, but Slovenian fishermen have continued to fish beyond the equidistant line, in the disputed territory claimed by both Slovenia and Croatia, since they own shellfish farms south of the line.[citation needed]
[edit] History of dispute
Following World War II, the area from north of Trieste to river Mirna to the south was a part of Free Territory of Trieste. In 1954 the territory was dissolved and territories were provisionally divided between Italy and Yugoslavia, and formally annexed by the Treaty of Osimo in 1975. The Yugoslav part was further divided between Slovenia and Croatia, both consituent republics of the federation.
After the independence of both nations, the Gulf of Piran has been a place of conflict for fishermen from both countries and the police.
Shortly after both countries declared independence, in the first draft proposal of delimitation, Slovenia proposed[2] to establish borderline in the center of the bay, which is the position of Croatia today. However, Slovenia changed its policy next year.
A few months later, on June 5th 1992, Slovenia, for the first time, requested the entire gulf to be Slovenian. Since then, Slovenia kept insisting on this position.
[edit] Račan-Drnovšek agreement
On July 20, 2001, the Prime Ministers of Slovenia and Croatia initialled the so-called Drnovšek-Račan Agreement which defined the entire border between the countries, including the maritime border. [3] According to that agreement, Croatia would get approximately one third of the gulf and a maritime border with Italy while Slovenia would get a corridor to international waters. However, the Croatian parliament voted against the ratification of the agreement.
[edit] References
- ^ a b UN convention of the Law of the Sea, Part II: Full text of the Article 15 reads: Where the coasts of two States are opposite or adjacent to each other, neither of the two States is entitled, failing agreement between them to the contrary, to extend its territorial sea beyond the median line every point of which is equidistant from the nearest points on the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial seas of each of the two States is measured. The above provision does not apply, however, where it is necessary by reason of historic title or other special circumstances to delimit the territorial seas of the two States in a way which is at variance therewith.
- ^ a b International border in Gulf of Piran (Slovenian).
- ^ See Damir Arnaut, Stormy Waters on the Way to the High Sees: The Case of the Territorial Sea Delimitation between Croatia and Slovenia, in David Caron & Harry Scheiber, Eds., Bringing New Law to Ocean Waters, Klüwer 2004, http://www.brill.nl/m_catalogue_sub6_id21272.htm
