Sailing between a Lull and Storm Clouds

The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 (which allowed sea commerce to resume between the northern and southern shores of the Black Sea) also allowed the birth of a new type of unitary narrative, which includes lesser known periods such as the Ottoman era and the twentieth century.

This development was facilitated by greater freedom of speech, the opening of Russian and Ukrainian archives, the circulation of scholars and a period of relative peace for two decades on the shores of that sea. Similarly, the concept of the Black Sea as a unit came back in vogue in contemporary geopolitical studies, under the name of the ‘Wider Black Sea Region’ (or ‘Greater Black Sea Area’).^[743] There are least three reasons for this: first, the Black Sea is a whole in the perspective of international law, by reason of the agreements on the free passage of ships through the Straits. Second, a number of littoral countries share common issues, such as being located at the frontier of Russia and the European Union, social and political instability, economic woes and as a conduit of energy resources. Finally, the ‘Black Sea region’ is a commodious concept, serving as a link between geographical appellations such as ‘Europe’ and ‘Middle East’ or between ‘Balkans’ and ‘Caucasus’.^[744]

Cooperation initiatives (such as the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation or BSEC, founded in 1997) have led to working papers and publications.^[745] The European Union,^[746] NATO^[747] and the Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)^[748] are also abundant sources of political literature. In the Russian context, however, ‘Black Sea’ is generally understood in a restricted way: as the northern coast formerly controlled by the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, from the left bank of the Danube all the way to the Turkish border in eastern Anatolia.

In Turkey, the end of the Cold War and the reconnection of the shores, as well as the debate about the ‘Europeanness of Turkey’ prompted a new wave of historical research on the Black Sea.^[749] Yet interest in the Black Sea region is not necessarily interest in the sea itself.

At the same time, the Black Sea is also at risk of heading again for a period of partial enclosure. In 2014, following the fall of the pro-Russian government in Ukraine, Russia forcibly annexed Crimea, in violation of pre-existing international agreements, while an insurrection broke out in the Donbass (the eastern part of the country). As a result of the embargo on Russia, the sea trade of Crimea and the Russian shore (particularly Novorossiysk) with the rest of the world was severely reduced.^[750] Today European cruise liners are no longer allowed to call at Yalta or Sevastopol (at the same time the port cities of Constanta in Romania and Odessa in Ukraine are experiencing a corresponding expansion). There has been little commerce from the Crimean ports since the 1990s and even less since the Russian annexation; most of the regional traffic goes by land. The bridge currently under construction that will connect Crimea to the Russian mainland across the Kerch Strait will only reinforce that trend.^[751] In that case, circulation across the Black Sea seems indeed to have evolved in inverse ratio to nationalism.

A recent authoritarian turn in Turkey and a resulting resolution of the EU parliament in November 2016 to freeze its membership application process seem to have checked this country’s integration into the European system. On the other hand, coastal shipping on the Anatolian Black Sea coast is still vibrant. The second decade of the twenty-first century is undoubtedly one of instability, when the balance of power in the region is shifting and could evolve in several possible directions. Russia and Turkey, unsurprisingly, are attempting a rapprochement that needs, however, to overcome a territorial rivalry that traces back to the Russian and Ottoman Empires, especially over influence over eastern Anatolia. Whether this could result in an increase of sea connections between Russia and the Anatolian coast remains to be seen.

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Source: Armitage David, Bashford Alison et al. (eds.). Oceanic Histories. Cambridge University Press,2018. — 338 p.. 2018

Sailing between a Lull and Storm Clouds

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