Xenophon Paper 2 pdf - ICBSS

one of the most conflict-prone regions in the post-Cold War world. It has also been able
to install among the member countries a certain sense of joint ownership and belonging
to a region, where no common identity had existed.
At this juncture, where we are hearing a revived Cold War rhetoric in the wider Black
Sea region, Turkey, currently at odds with the US over Iraq and experiencing a lull with
the EU, is preparing to give a new boost to the BSEC during its Chairmanship. Although
Turkey has some reservations about proposed Euro-Atlantic strategies towards the
WBSR, and is set on protecting the Montreux regime as it is, it has also consistently
advocated the region’s integration to Euro-Atlantic structures and to the global economy.
Turkey has especially advocated the ‘Europeanization’ of the Black Sea area since early
1990s. The EU’s new ‘Black Sea Synergy’ policy and its project-oriented approach
towards the region are well-suited to Turkey’s own Black Sea vision. Considering the
relevance of the priority areas designed under the Synergy initiative, Turkey especially
favours joint projects developed through concerted action of the BSEC and the EU in
the fields of trade, transport, border management, customs cooperation and good
governance. As a result of these conflicting pressures, it seems that Turkey would most
probably do what it does best during its Chairmanship of the BSEC, that is to pursue a
policy of caution and balance in order to avoid alienating either regional countries
(especially the Russian Federation on the one side and Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia
and Ukraine on the other) or interested outsiders, particularly the EU and the US.
140 UNFOLDING THE BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION VIEWS FROM THE REGION