Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, in an interview with the Hurriyet newspaper, said that it was undesirable for NATO warships to enter the Black Sea.

The head of the military department noted that Ankara does not support actions that can be perceived as provocations.

“We have proposals to maintain stability in the Black Sea.

We urge you not to get excited, not to panic.

Incorrect information can lead to misunderstandings.

Let's respect the borders and sovereignty of Ukraine, let's not cause misunderstandings that can be perceived as a provocation," TASS quoted Akar as saying.

The minister said that Ankara is in favor of preserving the rights of coastal states and the existing balance of power in the Black Sea.

“If balances are upset here, there is a high probability of things getting out of control.

There is no need to plunge the Black Sea into an atmosphere of competition,” Akar said.

Also, the Turkish Defense Minister does not share the US plans announced last year to create a deployment force for the North Atlantic Alliance in the Black Sea.

Akar urged two other NATO Black Sea countries - Romania and Bulgaria - to refrain from hasty decisions.

Postponed exercises

According to the official information of the Turkish side, there is not a single ship belonging to the navies of non-coastal states in the Black Sea now.

Last week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, live on CNN Türk, announced that, at the insistence of Ankara, NATO had postponed the naval exercises planned in the Black Sea.

“For this, Italian and British warships had to pass through the Bosphorus.

We told them that we should not conduct such exercises now and that we should postpone them,” Cavusoglu said.

  • Italian Navy ship at NATO exercises in the Black Sea

  • © nato.int

Earlier, in an interview with CNN Türk, Hulusi Akar said that Ankara would not let foreign warships of the alliance into the Black Sea.

The statement was made in the context of a commentary on the problem of mines drifting in the Black Sea.

Akar admitted the possibility of their deliberate appearance in order to force Ankara to let NATO minesweepers into the water area.

The Minister of Defense stressed that Turkey would not allow "the Black Sea to be drawn into the war."

Like other Turkish officials, Akar noted that Ankara is now building its policy within the framework of the Montreux Convention.

Back in late February, Cavusoglu said that Ankara had notified "all coastal and non-coastal countries of the inadmissibility of the passage of warships through the straits."

Recall that the Montreux Convention, dedicated to the regulation of the regime of passage through the straits, was adopted in 1936.

The document was signed by Turkey, the USSR, Romania, Bulgaria, France, Great Britain, Yugoslavia, Greece, Australia and Japan.

Cyprus joined the convention in 1969.

The document consolidated Turkey's sovereignty over the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles and endowed the coastal and non-Black Sea states with different rights.

In particular, the total tonnage of warships of non-coastal countries simultaneously in the Black Sea should not exceed 30 thousand tons, and the period of stay of such ships in the water area should not exceed 21 days.

After the start of the special operation, Turkey adheres to Article 19 of the Montreux Convention.

It says that the warships of any country conducting hostilities are deprived of the right to pass through the straits.

The exception is ships going to home ports.

"Dangerous Consequences"

In early March, Cavusoglu, in an interview with the Habertürk TV channel, explained Turkey's position on the Montreux Convention in sufficient detail.

He stressed that Ankara strictly fulfills its obligations arising from the 1936 document.

“Turkey has a vital interest in maintaining stability in the Black Sea.

Its economy, security and environmental situation near the Black Sea coast depend on this, ”said Andrey Kazantsev, professor at the Higher School of Economics, chief researcher at MGIMO, in an interview with RT.

According to the expert, Turkey is trying to prevent the "turning of the Black Sea into a zone of serious confrontation" and uses the tools that are spelled out in the Montreux Convention.

According to Kazantsev, Ankara seeks to prevent the emergence of a situation that could lead to a conflict in the Black Sea between NATO and Russia.

  • US Navy destroyer USS Ross

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Yulii Zozulia/Ukrinform/Future Publishing

“Turkey did not begin to impose sanctions against the Russian Federation and, in general, as we see, is distancing itself from the collective West.

Ankara seeks to pursue a multi-vector policy in the context of the current escalation.

She clearly does not want a conflict between NATO and the Russian Federation, does not want to be drawn into it, and therefore is afraid of any escalation in the Black Sea, ”says Kazantsev.

A similar point of view in a conversation with RT was expressed by the expert of the Bureau of Military-Political Analysis Nikolai Kostikin.

The analyst believes that the aggravation of the situation in the Black Sea basin is contrary to Turkey's national interests.

“In general, Turkey does not need this whole situation in Ukraine.

It is undesirable for her to create a hotbed of tension near her shores.

The conflict has already led to sea mines being fished off the coast of Turkey.

Nobody can like this.

I think that Turkey opposes the introduction of NATO ships into the Black Sea because this will lead to an escalation of the conflict, ”said Kostikin.

Recall that earlier the NATO Navy was a frequent visitor to the Black Sea.

According to experts of the Russian International Affairs Council, in 2021, the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance sent more than 30 warships through the Bosphorus.

Last November, Moscow reacted extremely negatively to large-scale unscheduled NATO exercises in the Black Sea.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin, the alliance has concentrated a "powerful naval group" and attracted strategic aviation to carry out tasks.

“The point is not the carriers, but the fact that they have military strategic weapons on board, this is a serious challenge for us,” Putin stressed.

A few months before the exercises off the coast of Crimea, there was a resonant incident with the British destroyer Defender, which violated the state border of the Russian Federation.

The UK Navy ship did not respond to calls to change course.

In this situation, the border patrol ship performed warning fire, and the Su-24M aircraft fired warning bombs along the course of movement.

Some time later, Defender left the territorial waters of Russia.

In Moscow, the actions of the destroyer were regarded as a gross violation of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

According to Russia, the situation with the presence of ships of non-Black Sea NATO members changed with the start of the special operation.

In particular, Mikhail Popov, Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, stated this in an April interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda.

“The start of Russia’s special military operation, obviously, made adjustments to the plans for the return of the American presence in the Black Sea ... under the current conditions, the American command, apparently, realized that teasing the “Russian bear” with impunity could no longer work out without dangerous consequences for itself,” Popov said.

Also, from the point of view of the Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, the United States is afraid to send ships to the Black Sea because of the anchor mines that ended up in the water area.

According to Popov, explosive devices were hastily installed off the coast of Odessa, Ochakov and Chernomorsk, but due to poor maintenance they turned into "offensive weapons aimed at the Black Sea countries of NATO and other guests of the Black Sea."

Experts do not exclude that the position of the United States on the military presence in the Black Sea may change, especially against the backdrop of Ukraine's major military defeats.

In this regard, analysts believe, it is important that Turkey does not give in to pressure from Washington and remains committed to the Montreux Convention.

“I think that Turkey will continue to resist in every possible way the US attempts to aggravate the situation in the Black Sea basin.

Ankara is trying to pursue a policy in its own interests, and they consist in a stable situation in the Black Sea and continued cooperation with Russia, including in the military-technical sphere, ”concluded Kostikin.