Can Turkey close the Straits to Russian and Ukrainian ships by using the right given to it by the 19th, 20th and 21st articles of the Montreux Convention? This has been one of the most discussed questions since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that Turkey should not use this right, but should first accept what is happening in Ukraine as a “war” in order to limit the passage of Russian navy ships through the Straits. Çavuşoğlu underlined that experts are examining whether the situation in Ukraine is war or not.
“Unjust and unlawful war” by İbrahim Kalın
Two days after this statement, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın used the word war for the first time.
Kalın shared on his social media account in English,
“On the fourth day of the Ukraine war, we reiterate President Erdogan’s call to stop the Russian attacks as soon as possible and to initiate ceasefire negotiations. “We will continue our efforts to help the people of Ukraine and to end the bloodshed in this unjust and unlawful war,” he said.
Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun also wrote on his social media account, “This war could have been avoided if our calls had been heeded,” revealing that Turkey describes what happened in Ukraine as a war.
Turkey’s decision to block warships that are not registered in a base in the Black Sea
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who joined the CNN Türk broadcast shortly after these posts, said that after Turkey evaluated the situation with expert lawyers and soldiers, it decided that what was going on in Ukraine was a war.
Foreign Minister,”Now this conflict has turned into a war. This is not a military operation, it is officially a state of war. In this case, of course, whichever one of us is, it can be Russia, here in Ukraine, in this case, we apply the Montreux Treaty in this way. We’re talking about the contract. Article 19 provides an exception. If a warship is to go to the base in the country that is a party to the war, then this passage cannot be prevented. Here it is clear whether that ship is registered to the base. There should be no abuse. He should not be involved in the war after saying ‘I will go to the base’ and passing through the Bosphorus. I have explained Turkey’s position and the provisions of the Montreux Convention,” he said.
Yörük Işık: “We cannot say that Turkey is late in taking the decision to close the Straits”
Russia has brought about 30 warships into the Black Sea in the last few months. Russian expert Yörük Işık, who observed ships in the Bosphorus, says that the powerful ships of the Russian navy, which served in the Caspian fleet, the Baltic fleet, the Northern fleet and even the Passive fleet, are now in the Black Sea.
Answering the questions of VOA Turkish, Yörük Işık said, “Russia passed very important ships. It has at least doubled its extraction capacity. Except for five ships, the entire Black Sea fleet is on duty. In addition, there are ships from the Baltic, Caspian, Northern and Pacific fleets. By seizing Odessa and its environs, the Russians want to close Ukraine’s sea exit and thus also its export and import routes. For this reason, we cannot say that it is too late for Turkey to take the decision to close the Straits to ships other than warships that will return to their base. But of course, this is a war, even if there are bombings in Kiev and other European cities, this is a giant war. The Russian navy is strong, but it also has old ships. It’s hard for them to be constantly operational. They will need care. Those ships may not pass through the Bosphorus when they need this care. Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine will strain the naval support in Syria,” he said.
Yörük Işık underlines that after Turkey’s decision to operate Article 19 of the Montreux Convention, if the war continues, the ships that will need maintenance will have problems in this regard.
prof. Yalçınkaya: “The restriction on the warships of the two states does not impair our neutrality”
The 19th article of the Montreux Convention, which Turkish officials, especially Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu referred to, states that “warships of any warring state will be prohibited from passing through the Straits”, while “the warships of any warring state will be forbidden to pass through the Straits”, while “the ones belonging to the belligerent states, whether they are littoral or not, from the mooring ports of the Black Sea Warships that have left can return to these ports,” he puts an exception.
Haldun Yalçınkaya, from TOBB University of Economics and Technology, is of the opinion that Turkey’s enforcement of article 19 of the Montreux Convention does not mean taking a position in favor of one or the other.
Commenting on VOA Turkish, Professor Yalçınkaya said, “Ukraine and Russia are two riparian states on the Black Sea. The restriction imposed on the warships of the two Black Sea littoral states does not violate our neutrality. We treat both sides equally. We do not spoil the status of Montreux, and we do not add fuel to the fire. Not bad for Russia, not bad for Ukraine either. It means that the balance cannot be disturbed in the Black Sea. This situation does not disturb both countries,” he said.
Acting in accordance with Article 19 of the Montreux Convention, if Turkey feels itself under the “imminent threat of war”, it may activate Article 21 of the same convention. The article in question gives Turkey the right not to allow the warships of the littoral state or states subject to this article to return to their bases if it considers itself to be “in the face of an imminent threat of war”. However, no Turkish official has so far referred to Article 21.