today's edition of the _Berliner Zeitung_ reports on the solution of a
'border conflict' between the Republic of Kazakhstan and a Hamburg based
real estate company. A gate from the Kazakh embassy in Berlin (in the
district of Pankow, the district where most embassies in East Berlin
used to be) was on the neighbouring plot, thus annexing a strip of land
of 45 by 1,88 metres. The German Ministry for Foreign Affairs had to
mediate between the two parties.

<http://www.berlinonline.de/aktuelles/berliner_zeitung/berlin/.html/11957
5.html>

And from the archive:
<http://www.berlinonline.de/wissen/berliner_zeitung/archiv/2001/1211/loka
les/0037/index.html>,
<http://www.berlinonline.de/wissen/berliner_zeitung/archiv/2001/1213/loka
les/0059/index.html>

What is, by the way, the exact legal status of embassies? Do embassy
premises entirely fall under the jurisdiction of the other country? We
surely don't consider them enclaves, or do we? Are embassies (the entire
plot) off bounds to host country's police agencies? I have been told by
someone that this is merely a de facto situation or policy, which
doesn't have any legal basis. Can anyone shed any light on this?

-Pepijn

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