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751. Developing a New Euro-Atlantic Strategy for the Black Sea Region

Author:
Ronald D. Asmus
Publication Date:
06-2004
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
A series of historically unprecedented events have brought the attention of the West to the wider Black Sea region—that area including the littoral states of the Black Sea, Moldova, and the Southern Caucasus countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. An area that has heretofore been neglected by the Euro-Atlantic community is now starting to move from the periphery to the center of Western attention. Why has the West heretofore lacked such a strategy for the Black Sea region in the past and what has changed to make one so critical now? Four main factors explain the past lack of interest.
Topic:
NATO, Regional Cooperation, European Union, and Conflict
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Black Sea

752. Enlarging the European Union: Where does Turkey Stand?

Author:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Publication Date:
01-2002
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
EU decision-making with regard to Turkey is interesting to examine in terms of European integration and enlargement issues. One basic assumption of the paper is that Turkey’s position in the enlargement process cannot be treated as an independent case on its own, but should be evaluated within the larger framework of enlargement. In other words, the EU’s reservations, the role of the EU public towards the process of enlargement, the bargains that will be conducted between member states during enlargement negotiations for all candidate countries affect Turkey’s position in the enlargement process. This is not to say that the EU does not have specific reservations and issues that relate only to the Turkish case, but that the picture is more complicated than a European Union-Turkish bilateral relationship. The factors that are relevant in this picture are the European Union’s policy making mechanisms, the role of public opinion, the EU’s institutional set-up and of course the EU member states’ preferences. This approach therefore differs from previous work on the subject by placing EU-Turkish relations within a multilateral framework of enlargement in general, rather than a binary relationship. Similarly, I have argued elsewhere in a work co-authored with Lauren McLaren, that Turkey’s relations with the European Union should be evaluated within a perspective of the enlargement preferences of EU members and policy making in the European Union. The assumption in that work was that member states’ preferences determine the outcome of bargains in the European Union’s policy of enlargement.
Topic:
International Relations, Treaties and Agreements, and European Union
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, Middle East, and Mediterranean