Sources & about this resource

An independent reference resource. This website is an independent editorial and heritage archive documenting the International Black Sea Club (IBSC) and the wider tradition of municipal cooperation among the port cities of the Black Sea. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an official channel of the Club, any of its former member cities, or any government or intergovernmental body, and it takes no position on questions of sovereignty or on any current political dispute. Cities are referred to by the names the Club itself used in its historical materials.

Purpose

This website exists to gather, in one neutral place, what is publicly documented about the International Black Sea Club and the tradition of municipal cooperation among Black Sea port cities. It is intended for students, researchers, and anyone interested in the recent history of the region and its cities. It is a heritage and reference project, not a revival of the Club and not a channel for any organization.

Editorial approach

The account here is written in the past tense and treats the Club as a historical body. It describes institutions and cities rather than individuals: the names, contact details and photographs of particular officials that once appeared in the Club's own pages are not reproduced. Member cities are referred to by the English names the Club itself used, purely for historical continuity, and nothing on this site should be read as a statement about the current political status of any city or territory.

Neutrality

The Black Sea region has seen serious conflict, and its cities today lie within different states and under different circumstances. This resource takes no position on any of those matters. Its scope is limited to the history of a voluntary club of cities and to the shared maritime heritage of the sea they border.

Public sources

The information here is drawn from publicly available material, including the Club's own historical web pages as preserved in public web archives, and from reference works and the sites of established international organizations. Useful further reading includes:

• Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC)
• United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
• United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)
• Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR)
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: the Black Sea

Corrections

This is an evolving reference. Where the historical record is incomplete the text says so, and it avoids asserting precise figures — such as an exact, final membership count — that the surviving sources do not clearly support.