Ankara says to comply with Montreux Convention over Russia
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Turkey plans to adhere to Montreux Convention as Ukraine calls on Ankara to close its straits to Russian ships.
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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu
Ankara will continue to strictly abide by the Montreux Convention, Turkish Parliament speaker Mustafa Sentop said Friday in response to calls to close straits in the face of Russian ships.
Ukraine's Ambassador in Turkey, Vasyl Bodnar, demanded Ankara on behalf of Kiev to close the straits for Russian ships.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu replied by saying his country might close the Bosporus and Dardanelles for the passage of Russian warships, but Moscow would still have the right to return its fleet to base.
"The provisions of the Montreux convention are clear, and Turkey will strictly abide by the terms of the agreement," Sentop told the press.
The Montreux Convention was adopted in 1936, and it ensures the freedom of passage through straits for merchant ships in times of peace and war.
Regulations may differ by country, as per the accord, but they also limit the period of stay in the Black Sea of warships of non-Black Sea states to three weeks.
In emergency situations, Turkey would have the right to prohibit or restrict the passage of military ships through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, seeing as ships passing through them would have to pass either through or to the black sea.
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The Bosporus and Dardanelles straits
The calls for Turkey to prohibit the passage of Ukrainian ships come following the latest exchange of blows in the form of sanctions, which saw Russia issuing a ban against UK aircraft entering Russian airspace in response to Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledging to impose a "massive package" of sanctions.
The British pledge was accompanied by a wave of sanctions from the US, Europe, and other Western allies.
The European Union has agreed Friday to freeze the European assets linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over Moscow's operation in Donbass.
The tsunami of sanctions that Russia is repeatedly telling the West has no effect come in light of leader Vladimir Putin authorizing a special military operation in Donbass over the constant Ukrainian shelling of Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics, whose independence Moscow recognized a few days ahead of the operation.
Moscow's ministry of foreign affairs informed the international community the operation in Ukraine was not the beginning of a war, but rather an attempt at curbing one after the west bombarded the situation with condemnations.
Russia has for months been warning of the threat posed against it by NATO's attempts to expand eastward, which happened simultaneously with an increase in NATO military activity along Russia's borders, and batches of lethal weapons being sent to Ukraine, prompting Russia to request security guarantees from the West. Washington failed to provide the guarantees.
