BUCHAREST, January 31. /TASS/. Turkey will continue to follow the Montreux Convention, regulating maritime traffic through straits in the Black Sea, and will not make any concessions on the matter, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said during a broadcast on the Ministry's website after meeting with his Romanian counterpart Luminita Odobescu.
"We will continue to implement the provisions of the Montreux Convention in full. As I have already said in Sofia yesterday, there can be no change to this policy, it is out of the question," the Turkish diplomat said.
Turkey has repeatedly stated that it adheres to the Montreux Convention, which was signed in 1936. After the launch of the special military operation, on the basis of Article 19 of the convention, Turkey started blocking the warships of the participants of the conflict and non-riparian states from entering the straits (Bosporus and Dardanelles) to prevent further escalation and rising tensions in the Black Sea. Ankara also stresses that they pursue their efforts of adhering to the "regional responsibility" principle in the Black Sea to avoid bringing disturbances to the balance that has formed there.
The Montreux Convention was signed on July 20, 1936 and entered into force on November 9 of the same year. It asserted Turkey's sovereignty over the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, transferring to it the functions of monitoring and controlling the passage of ships. At the same time, the convention regulates the passage of warships, while civilian ships of all countries retain their right to freely pass through the straits both in peacetime and wartime.