Turkey, Russia Oppose to NATO Presence in Black Sea

[Ryan Ruck]

Turkey, Russia Oppose to NATO Presence in Black Sea

Ankara and Moscow opposed the demand made by the United States to extend the mission area of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) “Active Effort” operation, to combat terrorism and crime in the Mediterranean region, to include the Black Sea.

Secretary of State Commissioner for Europe and Euro-Asia Kurt Volker cited, “We do not wish to use NATO against NATO allies such as Turkey; henceforth, we talked about whether or not and how we can do the job together with these countries.”

Turkey defended that the Black Sea “does not need” to be the focus of a NATO operation, while the country continues its sea operations in the region at a national level.

The information gathered during the operation is shared with NATO member countries. The countries neighboring the Black Sea conduct similar activities as part of the Blackseafor. Having joined the Blackseafor, both Romania and Bulgaria, as NATO members, support the US attempt. The Velvet revolution countries, Ukraine and Georgia, also favor the American view; however, Russia opposes the operation since it is unwilling to help the US gain greater strength.

[Brian Baldwin]

Again a response that was highly predictable. Why would they object? I mean when my daughter was two and told me not to look at her while she attempted to filch a cookie I wasn't stupid enough to comply. Does that region really feel the world should turn away for a bit so as not to witness their activities?