Abstract:

Maritime security, which has been widely used in the literature on international security studies particularly in recent years, is used as a framework concept generally to describe the combat against problems occurring in the maritime areas regarding national security, economic development and human security. The inclusive nature of the concept, which includes combating all threats originating from state or non-state actors through maritime domain, enabled that ensuring maritime security became one of the four main objectives of NATO in the Alliance Maritime Strategy Document adopted in 2011. In this study, the conceptual and operational changes seen in the policies of NATO regarding the maritime domain were discussed. The study has two key determinations. The first one is the determination of the fact that the maritime safety perception of the Alliance was included in the official documents of the Alliance and thereby gained a conceptual framework after practically implementing it in the operations it conducted following the Cold War. The second determination is the fact that NATO has implemented the maritime security concept of the Alliance along with the activities towards ensuring energy security and human security; and in this sense, the Alliance has adopted the maritime security concept as a framework concept that covers many issues. In the study, maritime security approach of NATO was evaluated and it was tried to reveal how the maritime security issue could be shaped in the context of NATO in the upcoming period.

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