TURKEY'S ROLE IN THE BLACK SEA POLICY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION: THE HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF THE DUALISM OF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP AND COMPETITION

Baranova Anna Evgenievna

The history of international relations in the Black Sea region demonstrates the special dynamics of cooperation between Turkey and the European Union. Since the end of the XX – beginning of the XXI century, the region has been acting as a key center of geopolitical transformations, where the interests of the European Union, the organizations of the North Atlantic Alliance, the Russian Federation, Turkey and a number of other regional and global players are forming. After 2022, the region's importance has increased dramatically: it has become not only a zone of military and political confrontation, but also a space for reorientation of energy and trade routes. The purpose of this study is a historical and political analysis of the evolution of Turkey's role in the Black Sea policy of the European Union: from a strategic partner in ensuring security and energy stability to a tactical competitor defending its own "strategic autonomy". Special attention is paid to the application of the 1936 Montreux Convention on the Regime of the Straits as a historically established mechanism for Turkey's control over the regime of the Black Sea Straits, as well as to the analysis of Ankara's energy and diplomatic potential in the context of the post-war and post-crisis policies of the European Union. The results of the study show that the partner–competitor dualism is not a temporary phenomenon, but a natural consequence of the historical evolution of Turkish foreign policy towards Europe.

Keywords:history of international relations, Black Sea region, Turkey, Montreux Convention, European Union, energy policy, strategic autonomy, grain initiative, competition.