From the percpective of neorealism Russian's annexation of Crimea

The aim of the thesis is to try to make sense of the events by analyzing the process leading to the annexation of Crimea by Russia from the perspective of Neorealism. In this context, the main research question of the study is the following: Is the annexation of Crimea an ultimate goal of Russia or a move to balance the EU and NATO's policies towards the region? In addition, the strategies of the USA as a global power and Russia as a regional power towards Eurasia and the hegemony on Ukraine are examined in this study. Meanwhile, the data obtained from domestic and foreign sources were analyzed with the basic arguments of Neorealism, which contains important parameters in the discipline of International Relations, such as the international system, power and balance of power, balancing, security and security dilemma. In the meantime, to understand the cause-effect relationships and support the hypothesis, the case analysis method was used and the discourse analysis method was applied. This study consists of four parts. In the first part, the conceptual and theoretical framework of Neorealism, which is the theoretical perspective, is underlined. In the second part, the regional strategies of the great powers and the geostrategic position of Crimea, its historical, ethnic characteristics and its importance for Russia are emphasized. In the third part, along with the security of the Black Sea, the efforts of the EU and the USA to reach the Black Sea, the situation of Turkey and the policy of Russia, and the process leading up to the annexation of Crimea are detailed. In the fourth and last part of the study, the annexation was analyzed theoretically and the hypothesis was supported and some predictions were tried to be made.