By Jim Dorschner
Since Turkey created the on-call multinational Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group in the first quarter of 2001, disagreements over how best to secure this sensitive maritime domain have apparently been overcome as activity coalesces around Turkey's 'Black Sea Harmony' (BSH) programme.
BSH was launched in March 2004 as a national, post-11 September 2001 effort to secure the northern end of the Bosphorus in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions 1373, 1540 and 1566, aimed at countering global terrorism and asymmetric threats.
Other littoral states were subsequently invited to join the programme; Russia entered in December 2006. Ukraine initiated membership in January 2007 and NATO and EU member states Romania and Bulgaria are expected to follow shortly; this will leave only Georgia outside the arrangement.
The apparent emergence of BSH as a way forward ends several years of policy debate and posturing among the states in the region that also involved the wider interests of NATO and the US. Late in 2006 the US threw significant support behind BSH and urged close allies Romania and Bulgaria to sign on. In the process the US effectively terminated any prospect of extending NATO's Operation 'Active Endeavour' (OAE) from the Mediterranean and ruled out direct US involvement in Black Sea maritime security operations, which, in turn, cleared the way for critical Russian participation.
OAE was created in late 2001 following 11 September 2001 to operate in the Mediterranean and initially included warships and maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) from Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the US. Russia later joined OAE at NATO's invitation, while both Romania and Bulgaria have provided ships. The operation's mission is to combat criminal and terrorist activity and enhance maritime security by interdicting sealines of communication, principally through shared intelligence and surveillance augmenting a robust programme of monitoring and boarding of suspect civilian vessels at sea.
For some time NATO supported the idea of extending OAE into the Black Sea, but Moscow was categorically opposed. At one point the US also favoured extending OAE, but eventually changed course in favour of BSH, having concluded that the urgency of requirements to implement co-ordinated security operations in the Black Sea are more compelling than the umbrella under which operations are conducted. Turkey also strenuously resisted ceding Black Sea security to NATO under OAE, fearing a softening of the longstanding Montreux Convention, which gives Turkey a central role.
JanesDefense , LINK
Since Turkey created the on-call multinational Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group in the first quarter of 2001, disagreements over how best to secure this sensitive maritime domain have apparently been overcome as activity coalesces around Turkey's 'Black Sea Harmony' (BSH) programme.
BSH was launched in March 2004 as a national, post-11 September 2001 effort to secure the northern end of the Bosphorus in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions 1373, 1540 and 1566, aimed at countering global terrorism and asymmetric threats.
Other littoral states were subsequently invited to join the programme; Russia entered in December 2006. Ukraine initiated membership in January 2007 and NATO and EU member states Romania and Bulgaria are expected to follow shortly; this will leave only Georgia outside the arrangement.
The apparent emergence of BSH as a way forward ends several years of policy debate and posturing among the states in the region that also involved the wider interests of NATO and the US. Late in 2006 the US threw significant support behind BSH and urged close allies Romania and Bulgaria to sign on. In the process the US effectively terminated any prospect of extending NATO's Operation 'Active Endeavour' (OAE) from the Mediterranean and ruled out direct US involvement in Black Sea maritime security operations, which, in turn, cleared the way for critical Russian participation.
OAE was created in late 2001 following 11 September 2001 to operate in the Mediterranean and initially included warships and maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) from Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the US. Russia later joined OAE at NATO's invitation, while both Romania and Bulgaria have provided ships. The operation's mission is to combat criminal and terrorist activity and enhance maritime security by interdicting sealines of communication, principally through shared intelligence and surveillance augmenting a robust programme of monitoring and boarding of suspect civilian vessels at sea.
For some time NATO supported the idea of extending OAE into the Black Sea, but Moscow was categorically opposed. At one point the US also favoured extending OAE, but eventually changed course in favour of BSH, having concluded that the urgency of requirements to implement co-ordinated security operations in the Black Sea are more compelling than the umbrella under which operations are conducted. Turkey also strenuously resisted ceding Black Sea security to NATO under OAE, fearing a softening of the longstanding Montreux Convention, which gives Turkey a central role.
JanesDefense , LINK
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