Turkey recently hosted the fifth NATO anti-mining and anti-submarine exercise Blue Whale 2016 in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, with the participation of NATO members and 11 other countries, including Pakistan. At the end of the exercise, Pakistan’s Alamgir frigate, instead of returning home, sailed to the Black Sea to visit Russia’s major naval base at Novorossiysk on Dec. 8.

After the port visit, the Black Sea will witness the first joint Russia-Pakistan naval exercise, with the participation of Alamgir and the Russia navy. With Turkey's role as observer in the December exercises, it is time to ask: Is Turkey risking a deep crisis with the United States and NATO by moving toward military cooperation with Russia in the Black Sea? Can the Russian-Turkish rapprochement in Syria be carried over to the Black Sea?

Actually, the situation in the Black Sea has been considerably hot since Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014. The United States deployed some warships in the Black Sea after the Russian move. NATO refused to recognize the annexation.

The United States has been trying to counterbalance Russia’s growing military and logistics activities in the Black Sea by using NATO.