The Black Sea is not a trump card that can be used for personal interests, because such manipulations serve only the interests of the United States.
This was told by Turkish journalist Mehmet Ali Guller in a publication for the publication “Cumhuriyet”.
The author drew attention to the fact that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced a policy of “strengthening partnership” with Georgia and Ukraine. According to Guller, such an approach demonstrates Washington’s clear intentions to speed up the oppression of Turkey with Russia in the Black Sea.
The situation and the position of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who aimed at the construction of the Istanbul Canal, aggravates the situation. As planned, it will run parallel to the Bosphorus west of the city of Silivri. It is planned to complete construction in 2023.
According to the journalist, the problem is that the new channel will make sense of the Montreux Convention. The channel will provoke a lot of controversy surrounding the revision of the document, because it will practically become the gateway for NATO forces in the Black Sea. Guller recalled that for many years the Montreux Convention was an obstacle to the US Black Sea ambitions. In the name of these ambitions, Bulgaria and Romania granted NATO membership – this allowed the States to consolidate their influence in the western part of the water area. Ukraine, in turn, must resolve the issue of the north, and Georgia – the east. However, Guller emphasizes, the Black Sea should be the sea of coastal states, which meets both the interests of Turkey and the interests of Russia.
“The Black Sea is not a trump card that Ankara can play against Moscow and vice versa. Both countries are interested in maintaining security in the Black Sea. When they try to use it as a trump card, it plays into Washington’s hands, ” the publicist continues.
Therefore, he urges Ankara to oppose the membership of Ukraine and Georgia in NATO. He also insists on curtailing the construction of the Istanbul Canal, which will provoke a geopolitical confrontation.
“Now that the coronavirus pandemic clearly showed the collapse of American hegemony and the inability of neoliberal globalization to function, membership of Georgia and Ukraine in NATO will bring not increased security, but increased hostility in the region,” Guller stated.