Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has reiterated Türkiye's commitment to uphold the Montreux Convention of 1936, which regulates the passage of warships through the straits during times of conflict.

Defense Ministry officials have refuted recent allegations suggesting that Türkiye permitted minehunter ships from the United Kingdom to enter Ukrainian waters via the Bosphorus.

According to officials, Türkiye has adhered to the Montreux Convention, a treaty in force since 1936, which restricts the passage of conflicting parties' warships through the straits during times of war.

Turkey is seeking to pack as much as it can into the agenda of the crucial NATO Summit in Vilnius in July. It is not just the trade-offs Ankara hopes to get for agreeing to Sweden's induction into the Alliance or its claims concerning the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus.

In order to break the impasse and activate the new operational maps for North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercises and missions, the US delegation in Brussels has proposed a compromise within the Alliance that would give the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits dual names, delete the reference to the Republic of Cyprus, and replace it with coordinates describing NATO exercises in the Eastern Medi

In line with a new mandate, transit fees imposed on international vessels passing through the Turkish straits will be $4.42 per net ton as of July 1, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdülkadir Uraloğlu has announced.

The third countries, particularly the NATO allies, should better not demand to send their warships to the Black Sea during the war between Ukraine and Russia, the Turkish defense minister has said, warning them not to turn the Black Sea into an area of competition.

Turkey has closed its airspace to Russian civilian and military aircraft that carry troops to Syria, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on April 23.

Turkey and Russia have "agreed to suspend the use of the airspace for Russian military aircraft and even civilian aircraft carrying soldiers to Syria," Çavuşoğlu told reporters aboard his flight to Uruguay.

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has expressed suspicion over the possibility of intentionally leaving mines in the Black Sea in a bid to pave the way for NATO minesweepers to enter these waters.

Turkey said on Feb. 28 it was blocking warships from the key Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits in line with a convention that gives it control over the passage of military vessels in the strategic area.

The Turkish president stressed that he will rely on the Montreux Treaty to de-escalate the situation between Russia and Ukraine