Abstract
Rethinking the Black Sea Security
The dominance struggle over the Black Sea region where has experienced a geopolitical transformation Post-1990s has become multi-faceted and complex. The interest in the Black Sea region has resulted from the region's geographical location, economic potential, security, and energy and being a transport corridor. On the other hand, in the last two decades after Cold War, the priorities of global forces have changed, the roles and functions of the actors in the region have been transformed, and the energy issue gained more reputation in international relations. The importance of the region has continued to increase due to globalization, energy resources and interdependence. Therefore, the Black Sea region has become the focus of growing interest depending on the global and regional powers’ benefits and expectations. The Black Sea region has gained a central character of political, economic and security by being transformed from flank or surrounding position. Therefore, the aim of the article is re-evaluate the security cases of Black Sea region, subjected to heavily geopolitical changes post-Cold War era.
In this context, the changing security perceptions of Black Sea, the phenomena of region that pose risks, the implication of energy over the region and, the energy policies of global actors toward Black Sea region will be analyzed in order. After studying the cooperation processes carried out in the region, the impact of Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Turkish Straits on region, in particular, on Turkish-Russian relations will be examined. Then, the article will be concluded by an evaluation.
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Keywords
Security, Black Sea, global power, influence, energy