ABSTRACT
Starting from the eighteenth century up until the early twentieth century the Black Sea region witnessed a fierce and continuous rivalry between the Ottoman and the Russian Empires which revealed itself in the form of nine battles fought between the two countries for supremacy in the area. Turkey's desire to maintain the naval balance set forth in the Black Sea region with the Montreux Convention led her to reach a common understanding with Russia in the post-Cold War era in the form of preserving a common front against the access of extra-regional forces, especially the USA and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), into the area. The Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group (BLACKSEAFOR) political consultation group gatherings and the occasional Black Sea naval commanders meetings provided military officials of Turkey and Russia with the opportunity to get together in multilateral structures.
