ANKARA, December 23. /TASS/. Ankara intends to extend its safety control system to the Black and Marmara Seas from the Dardanelles and Bosphorus Straits, Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on NTV.

"We are making serious efforts in the field of shipping safety. We monitor the passage of ships through all the straits where our navigation monitoring system operates, both in the Dardanelles Strait and the Bosphorus. We also plan to expand this radar monitoring across the entire Marmara Sea area and eventually to the Black Sea," the minister said.

Turkey also intends to install this control system in the Eastern Mediterranean to better "monitor the situation in the area from Mersin to Cyprus."

The system is being implemented as part of a national project to provide comprehensive maritime traffic control services. Work is currently underway to create the infrastructure in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Additional radar and meteorological stations, communication points, and video surveillance facilities will be installed. The data from the automatic identification system, radar stations, and other monitoring facilities will be integrated into a single infrastructure. According to the Turkish Transport Ministry, this will allow continuous, round-the-clock monitoring of maritime traffic, transmission of navigation information and ship warnings, and enhanced safety oversight.