ANKARA, January 11. /TASS/. Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler has said that the navies of only three countries that signed a memorandum on the matter will be involved in clearing drifting mines in the Black Sea.

Earlier, the document was signed in Istanbul between the defense ministries of Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania.

"This initiative will be open to participation of ships only from [these] three Black Sea countries. We appreciate the potential contribution to this work by the countries outside of the Black Sea region and our allies. Their cooperation in this work may be determined in the future if the situation allows," the top military official said at the signing ceremony.