PARTNERS IN CO-OPERATION: TURKEY AND THE EUROPEAN UNION IN THE COMMON NEIGHBOURHOOD

It will not be an exaggeration to state that Turkey, due to its geo-strategic location, enjoys multiple regional identities and has the capability and responsibility to follow an integrated and multi-dimensional foreign policy. In the current government''s conduct of foreign policy, Turkey follows a proactive diplomacy with the aim of strengthening prosperity, stability and security in a neighbourhood which spans the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Caspian basin, the Black Sea and the Middle East. Regarding the fact that the European Union (EU) also is ready to pursue the role of a global actor more assertively with the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, there is the potential for the two powers to co-operate in their common neighbourhood. The paper that I am proposing to present will look at these two parallel developments, the new Turkish foreign policy under the current government and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the EU''s eagerness to undertake new responsibilities on a global scale after the Lisbon Treaty in general. Specifically the paper will concentrate on the main security threats in the common neighbourhood, illegal migration and organised crime in the Caspian Basin and the Caucasus. An organised co-operation for the solution of these security threats will be more relevant in the conduct and improvement of the European Neighbourhood Policy as it is the main policy of the EU which aims to specifically deal with the problems mentioned above.