“Through the Black Sea, We Will Always Be Neighbors and Partners with Both Türkiye and Those Countries that Have Access to the Sea”

A few words about our National Institute, which effectively cooperates with Turkish colleagues. A few months ago, our Director was invited to participate in the Antalya Security Forum. In particular, with Azerbaijani colleagues. This example is illustrative and shows the proper perspective and desire of the parties to achieve their goals in further cooperation.

In the context of the Crimean Tatar community, I would like to point out that our cooperation with it can be considered quite active. I am even a member of the Crimea Platform’s expert network. In my opinion, this area of activity is extremely important for Ukraine today, and we will see its usefulness over time. Especially if we keep in mind the current geopolitical environment, when the global security structure, in particular, the global institutions created after World War II, are undergoing changes, and the United States is reconsidering its role in Europe and other regions of the world.

When we touch upon the topics important for Ukraine on the world stage, it is extremely important to establish regional cooperation. And when it comes to our joining any alliances, to Ukraine’s European integration, we are convinced that we must always take into account the geography which always works, so to speak. That is, no matter how much we want to become a member of some respectable structure, it will only be possible in relation to one located in Central Europe. For example, through the Black Sea, we will always be neighbors and partners with Türkiye and the countries that have access to the Sea.

From a historical perspective, there are many different examples in this regard, when allied relations lasted even for a century, but it is regional associations that have become noticeably more important today, both in the security and economic spheres.

In my opinion, Türkiye, as a NATO member, is now setting a good example of how a country can combine beneficial relations with someone and cooperate with them, taking into account all its national interests. It is obvious that Türkiye has become a true regional leader in recent decades, very successfully building relations with different neighboring countries. For example, one such example is enough to confirm that Türkiye has become a platform for negotiations for the second time. In particular, in 2022, it provided a very successful grain initiative. And now serious negotiations are underway. No matter how they were called originally, they have begun. We should point out the high skill of Turkish diplomats who managed to achieve the desired results in such negotiations. And this is at the time when Türkiye is a NATO country, but Turkish diplomats still managed to become a kind of relatively neutral platform for both Ukraine and Russia.

The creation of any alliance by Ukraine is an extremely ambitious task. After all, from my subjective point of view, Ukraine is not a member of any alliances yet. And if we are talking about military-political alliances, then we can probably take as an example the Türkiye – Azerbaijan cooperation, which can be fully described as military-political. This is an extremely interesting case of coexistence of two countries, which is worth a closer look. I believe that in any case, deepening cooperation and partnership with Türkiye, especially in the context of resolving both security and economic problems in the Black Sea, is very important for us.

To see this, it is enough to look at how the European Union has now begun to decisively and actively develop a strategy for the Black Sea. Why? Obviously, it has drawn the conclusion that it has no right to stand aside from the processes taking place in the region. I mean, for example, the events in Georgia as a result of certain changes there. Or the fact that Ukraine, thanks to its unmanned systems, was able to de-occupy the northern part of the Black Sea, at least partially. I consider this story to be quite unprecedented. Because, in principle, it has allowed us to ensure partial commercial navigation. Even such actions to ensure navigation in the Black Sea, economic and cultural and environmental cooperation, in particular, thanks to certain contacts of the Crimean Tatars with the Republic of Türkiye, which can be used to expand activities and deepen partnerships, can become the basis for the creation of alliances.

Viacheslav Potapenko,
Head of the Center for Domestic Policy Studies
of the National Institute for Strategic Studies,
Doctor of Economics.