Turkish Straits crisis

Turkey said on Tuesday it would not allow two minehunter ships donated to Ukraine by Britain to transit its waters en route to the Black Sea since it would violate an international pact concerning wartime passage of the straits.

Germany sent a message to Turkey

"It is not a couple of air strikes now, the situation in Ukraine is officially a war … We will implement the Montreux Convention," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Sunday, having finally recognised Russia's military "actions" in Ukraine as a war.

The Montreux Convention gives Turkey the right to close the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits to warships during wartime, but Russia can still pass through the straits to return its fleet to its bases, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has urged the Turkish government to preserve the Montreux Convention during the recent escalation between the West and Russia in Ukraine.