Chairman of Turkey’s Vatan (Homeland) party Dogu Perincek said that the Montreux Convention is designed to prevent the North Atlantic Alliance fleet from entering the Black Sea through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits while Russia is conducting a special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine.
According to Dogu Perincek, the Montreux Convention was created to guarantee stability in the Black Sea region. Therefore, the North Atlantic Alliance flotilla, according to the treaty, will not be allowed by the Turkish government through its own straits.
Ankara, since the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict, has applied the rights given by the Montreux Convention and banned the passage of North Atlantic Alliance warships through the Black Sea straits. Turkey has told NATO allies that it will not allow minesweepers, which were given to Kiev by Britain, to pass through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles.
“The Montreux Convention is designed to guarantee stability in the Black Sea and the non-admission of NATO ships to the straits in the current situation. Stability in the Black Sea will be ensured through co-operation between the countries of the Black Sea region. We expect that NATO warships will not enter the Black Sea,” Dogu Perinçek told RIA Novosti in a commentary.
According to the politician, the ruling party in Turkey “sometimes deviates from the strategic vision, there are zigzags.” However, the MP emphasised that the main direction of Ankara is “to prevent NATO warships in the Black Sea”.
We will remind, earlier Turkey said that it would not let through the straits of the Black Sea minesweepers, which Ukraine received from the UK. It specified that according to the 1936 Montreux Convention, warships are prohibited from passing through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits during military conflicts.