EU's policy towards Black Sea region within the framework of the European neighbourhood policy

Since almost the whole part of the Black Sea region (except Turkey) was under the Soviet control and pressure during the Cold War, it became not possible especially for the Western countries and the international actors to take any steps oriented to this region. However, there was an unprecedented mobility in the internal dynamics of the region and the region's geopolitic balance started to change in favor of the West as a result of the fall of the Soviet Union. Following the Cold War, EU's interest in the Black Sea region increased. Nevertheless, due to the fact that the EU focused on the Europe-Mediterranean Partnership and incidents breaking out in the Balkans, which is closer to the EU in comparison to the Black Sea, it did not consider the Black Sea among prior areas of its external policies. Therefore, the EU did not take any effective steps in terms of solving the chaotic environment of conflict in the Black Sea region following the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, after the EU expanded its borders to the Black Sea with the wave of enlargement in 2007, it became an internal player in the region. This situation provided a great opportunity and possibility for the EU so as to make regional-level attempts on the Black Sea. In this context, in order to make up for the inadequate sides of the European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU initiated regional attempts for the Black Sea, such as the Black Sea Synergy and the Eastern Partnership. In this context, the main aim of the thesis is to analyse the development, objectives, essential features and the deficiencies of the European Neighborhood Policy and these regional attempts established within its framework and to examine the main problems in the functioning of these attempts as well as how successful they are.