Turkey Says War Exists in Black Sea, Allowing It to Block Russian Navy
Turkey’s government had said on Friday it was working to determine whether a state of war existed in the region. In wartime, Ankara can block some warships from countries involved in the conflict from accessing the Black Sea under the 1936 Montreux Convention.
“We came to the conclusion that the situation in Ukraine has transformed into a war,” said Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, speaking on CNN Turk. “We will implement all articles of Montreux transparently.”
Ukraine asked Turkey on Thursday, the first day of the invasion, to close the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits to Russian warships.
The request put pressure on Turkey, a NATO member that also has close ties to Russia. Turkey has fought Russian proxies in Syria and Libya and also sent armed drones to Ukraine, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also developed a close relationship with Vladimir Putin.
The Montreux Convention, which grants Turkey control over the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, allows Turkey to ban ships not based in the Black Sea under certain circumstances during times of war.
Turkey has invoked a “state of war” to ban warships only one other time in history, during the Second World War when it blocked Germany and Italy from using the Turkish straits to access the Black Sea. Ankara rejected an American request to move warships to the Black Sea in 2008, citing tonnage limits on naval vessels sent from outside the region.
Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat and director of an Istanbul-based think tank, said that Ankara was likely to issue a formal declaration invoking Article-19 of the Montreux Convention that would allow Turkey to ban warships from countries fighting in a war.
"This was the right decision for Turkey. If Turkey had not done this it would have exposed itself to criticism about its stance," Mr. Ulgen said.
Russia has already built up a significant force in the Black Sea in recent months, including multiple warships and a submarine that passed through the Turkish straits. A Turkish ban could prevent Moscow from sending additional ships from outside the region, but it couldn’t force vessels already in the Black Sea to leave.
The treaty also says warships based in the Black Sea have a right to passage through the straits if they are returning to base.
Earlier on Sunday two other senior Turkish officials used the word “war” to describe the situation in Ukraine, in a notable shift from earlier Turkish statements that avoided making that distinction. Mr. Erdogan’s spokesman and communications chief separately used the word in public statements.
After speaking with Mr. Erdogan on Saturday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Turkey in a tweet for banning Russian warships. A person close to the Turkish president said Mr. Erdogan didn’t tell Mr. Zelensky that he had declared a ban on Saturday.
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