“Yeni Büyük Oyunun” Karadeniz Boyutu Ba lam nda Gürcistan’ n NATO üyeli i (Georgia’s NATO Membership within Context of the Black Sea Dimension of “the New Great Game”)

Georgia’s NATO membership became a dispute between the NATO member countries and the Russian Federation. It is argued that Russia perceives Georgia’s NATO membership as a move that aims to take the control of critical energy infrastructure in the Caspian and Black Sea regions while NATO tries to be more influential on this geography strategic for the energy security of the US and the EU. This asymmetry of perceptions and interests between Russia and NATO is expected to complicate power dynamics further in the region. In this paper, Georgia’s NATO membership and the clashes between Georgia and Russia in the summer of 2008 were analyzed within context of the Black Sea dimension of “the new great game”. The membership process of Georgia and debates among the NATO member countries about Georgia’s membership were evaluated. Geopolitical consequences of the clashes between Georgia and Russia, the impact of clashes on the pipeline projects such as the Nabucco and reaction of the NATO countries to Russia’s military operations in the region were investigated. Increasing geopolitical importance of the Wider Black Sea Region and Turkey’s regional policies were examined. It is anticipated that Georgia’s NATO membership will continue to be a topic of discussion between Russia and NATO and the geostrategic and geoeconomic importance of the wider Black Sea Region will increase.