Xenophon Paper 2 pdf - ICBSS

NATO’s reach at the Black Sea shores. These two bodies – the EU and NATO- are the
primary organisations through which Bulgaria’s interests and security concerns are
being addressed. Bulgaria’s interaction with the EU and the NATO is a two-way process,
in which the policies of these organisations are being brought into the national policymaking
of Bulgaria and vice versa – Bulgaria’s policy agenda has been reflected into
the agenda of the two organisations.
In 2004, Bulgaria became a full-fledged member of NATO. It wasn’t long before the
Bulgarian embassy in Tbilisi was selected to be NATO’s contact point for the South
Caucasus. This was a symbolic move by which a country that just recently joined the
North Atlantic Alliance is helping advance NATO’s policy in the region. For that matter,
a pro-NATO political course is often misunderstood or misinterpreted outside of Central
and Eastern Europe, the Black Sea included, as NATO somehow being juxtaposed to
the European Union. Just the opposite, NATO and the EU reforms have been perceived
in the Central European transition countries as the two sides of the same coin, namely
pro-democratic and pro-market reforms. Thus, NATO and EU accession reforms were
part of a single reform package and the reforming countries of the Black Sea sought to
emulate this example – at least to the extent possible, as NATO and the EU had already
changed their policies of enlargement.
However, Bulgaria’s policy within NATO came at a price, as reflected to strained relations
with two of its Black Sea neighbours – Turkey and Russia as any policy towards the
Black Sea region is bound to face those two regional superpowers. Both Russia and
Turkey are ‘status quo’ powers, which dislike any outside interference in the Black Sea
region as, according to them, it might destroy the delicately balanced situation and
relationships.
In the case of Turkey, the cause was NATO’s plan to extend the naval anti-terrorist
operation ‘Active Endeavour’ from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea basin. Bulgaria
and Romania, the two other NATO members in the region, opted in favour of NATO’s
intentions. Turkey vehemently opposed, citing the Montreux convention of 1936 stipulating
that Turkey regulates the passage of the Bosporus and stay of navy vessels in the Black
Sea. In order to defy NATO’s plans, Turkey has launched its own operation ‘Black Sea
Harmony’ saying that any Black Sea country might join its national initiative. NATO
withdrew its plans anyway as, apparently, the US did not want to antagonise unnecessarily
its pivotal ally, but for quite some time the relations between NATO’s Black Sea members
were definitely strained, which was reflected in their regional policies.
While the issue with Turkey was somewhat a ‘family’ quarrel within NATO’s institutional
framework, the issue with Russia was much more complicated. The Black Sea states
are Russia’s immediate neighbourhood – it’s ‘near abroad’ – and Moscow opposes any
outside involvement not only in the Black Sea basin, but in the neighbouring states,
44 UNFOLDING THE BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION VIEWS FROM THE REGION