Turkey may close the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles straits for passage of warships
Still, Russia will have the right to use the straits for the return of its fleet to its base
Turkey may close the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles straits for passage of Russian warships. However, Russia will anyway have a right to use them for its fleet to return to the base, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on February 25
"Ukraine has sent us an official request [to close the straits to Russian warships]. The provisions of the Montreux Convention are very clear and precise. To this day, Turkey has been unhesitatingly complying with the Montreux Convention. It is possible to take measures towards the parties to a war that Turkey is not involved in. Turkey can restrict the passage of warships through the straits. However, the Montreux Convention also says that the ships of countries involved in a war have the right to return to their bases and should be allowed to do so," TASS refers to the Hurriyet newspaper quoting Cavusoglu as saying.
According to Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Turkish experts are looking into this issue. The process will start if "a war-time situation is officially declared". “If it is declared, the passage of the warships will be closed but Russia will still have the right to use the straits for the return of its fleet to its base. It all actually requires Turkey to describe Russia’s attack as a war”, explained the official.
On 24 February 2022, Vasily Bodnar, Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey, called on Ankara to restrict the passage of Russian warships through the Turkish straits.
Early in the morning on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special “special military operation” in Donbass and ordered forces into the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DNR and LNR).
