Black Sea Naval Force

The Black Sea Naval Force (also known as BLACKSEAFOR or the Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group) is a Black Sea naval cooperation program established in 2001 on the initiative of Turkey with the participation of Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia.[1][2]

## History

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The original purpose of BLACKSEAFOR was "to cooperatively promote security and stability in the Black Sea maritime area and beyond, strengthen friendship and good neighborly relations among the regional States, and increase interoperability among those states' naval forces".[3]

The BLACKSEAFOR has conducted several joint naval drills since its formation, however it has been suspended several times.[4] The 2008 Russo-Georgian war lead Georgia to suspend its involvement in BLACKSEAFOR drills and Russia to refuse to take part in drills involving Georgia.[5] The partnership was effectively suspended in 2014 following the Russian annexation of Crimea and War in Donbas.[6] In 2015, after a Russian plane was shot down by Turkish forces, Russia suspended its BLACKSEAFOR membership.[7]

## See also

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* Operation Black Sea Harmony
* 1936 Montreux Convention governing the passage of military ships into the Black Sea
* Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
* Operation Active Endeavour

## References

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1. ^ "Ukraine's attempts to exclude Russia from BlackSeaFor fail — military source". TASS. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
2. ^ "Black sea countries to sign Blackseafor agreement Monday". Hürriyet Daily News. 28 March 2001. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
3. ^ Özdal, Habibe (1 December 2011). Turkey-Ukraine Relations: High Potential, Low Voltage. International Strategic Research Organization (USAK). p. 34.
4. ^ Sanchez, W. Alejandro (18 November 2012). "Did BLACKSEAFOR Ever Have a Chance?". E-International Relations.
5. ^ "Russian Warship Arrives in Bulgarian Black Sea for Naval Drills". Novinite. 6 August 2009.
6. ^ Kucera, Joshua (23 July 2014). "Black Sea Naval Cooperation Another Casualty Of Ukraine War". EurasiaNet.
7. ^ "Russia suspends participation in BLACKSEAFOR drills after Turkey's downing of Russian jet". TASS. 27 November 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2016.

## Further reading

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* Volten, Peter M.E.; Tashev, Blagovest (2007). Establishing security and stability in the wider Black Sea area : international politics and the new and emerging democracies. Amsterdam: IOS Press in cooperation with NATO Public Diplomacy Division. p. 105\. ISBN 9781586037659.
* Pavliuk, Oleksandr; Klympush-Tsintsadze, Ivanna (2016). The Black Sea Region: Cooperation and Security Building: Cooperation and Security Building. Routledge. ISBN 9781315498232.

## External links

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* Composition of the BLACKSEAFOR year by year