European Union in a historical perspective Central Asian policy

With its rich natural gas and oil reserves, wide market and geostrategic importance, the Central Asian region, which is adjacent to Russia, China and Iran, has brought Central Asian policies to the fore in the EU. The different foreign policy strategies of the Central Asian states, which gained their independence after the collapse of the USSR, facilitated their entry into EU policies. For these reasons, relations that started in the form of cooperation in the early 1990s have become more comprehensive over the years. In this thesis, related books, statistics of national/international institutions and organizations, research and reports, news sources, elements published by the relevant government and other publications were used. The thesis work consists of three parts. In the first stage, information was given about the establishment, integration, transitions and institutions of the EU. in the second part; Five countries in the Central Asian region, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan were introduced, the reasons for the influence of the EU on this region were revealed, the cooperation areas and cooperation tools of the EU with the countries in the region were mentioned, and bilateral relations with the countries of the region were explained. The last part of the study was created by examining in detail the EU's 2007 "European Union and Central Asia: New Partnership Strategy with Central Asia" and 2019 "EU and Central Asia: New Opportunities for a Stronger Partnership". By evaluating the results of the application, the relations of Russia, China, USA and Turkey, which are the influential foreign actors of the region, with the region were evaluated. The basic assumption of the thesis is that the EU's Central Asia Strategy is suitable for the realization of the regional countries and their own interests. In achieving these interests, the EU, the neighbors of the region, Russia and China, and the USA and Turkey, which have active roles in the region, should closely monitor their approaches towards the region. Keywords; EUi Central Asia, Strategy