Bilateral relations between Turkey and Romania from neoclassical reali̇sm perspective: 1990-2015

The Balkans, a sub-regional system within the international system, has become an international political hot spot right after the Cold War. The changes in the area and the disintegration of Yugoslavia are the forefront shifts after the Cold War have affected domestic politics and equally Romania's foreign policy. When the bipolar international system emerged in the time frame of 1946-1991 the so called Cold War period, Turkey and Romania were members of different blocks. While the US undertook leadership of the Western Pole; The USSR had the leadership of the Eastern Pole. As a matter of fact, the political, military, economic, strategic, geopolitical attitudes and practices between Turkey and Romania were different, so the bilateral relations were characterized of a minimal level of cooperation. The relations between Romania and Turkey, which have the roots of old history, are being developed on the basis of mutual initiatives and unwavering will. Political, military and economic relations of Romania and Turkey have begun to develop more actively over the past twenty-five years. In addition to strong ethnic, historical and geographical loyalty from both of the two countries, there is also a notabe progress achieved in political and economic relations. In particular, cooperation in energy and security fıelds have the power to strengthen or deteriorate them, influencing relationships in other areas. This paper relies on the theoretical basis of neoclassical realism, aiming to offer an explanation on how the Turkish-Romanian bilateral relations have followed in post-Cold War period. This main intent first address the general cadre of bilateral relations, followed by the areas of cooperation and the major problems which can deteriorate the cooperation between Turkey and Romania. The paper also demonstrated that Turkey and Romaına have provided mutual support for EU and NATO membership and that the regional conjuncture in the Black Sea besides being a necessity entailed by the regional security, it contributes actively to the improvement of the bilateral Romanian –Turkish relations.