Information shared by international relations expert Canan Tercan of Turkey in an interview with TASS.
Despite increasing international pressure, it is unrealistic to expect Turkey to compromise on the Montreux Convention and open the Black Sea to military ships. For Turkey, the convention is not only a regulation on maritime activities through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, but also an essential framework to maintain security and strategic balance in the region," said Tercan, head of the Political Academy of Aydin University Istanbul.
The Turkish expert reiterated that the Turkish Foreign Ministry has repeatedly clearly affirmed its stance of complying with the convention.
Reviewing the principle of regional responsibility and the Montreux Convention is something that should not be discussed," Ms. Tercan emphasized when commenting on the current situation.
According to this expert, legally, Turkey may withdraw from the convention, but this possibility is very low.
The Convention clearly stipulates the mechanism for amending or withdrawing from the convention. However, in reality, this possibility is very low because negotiations between the parties are needed and international consensus is reached. This decision cannot be made unilaterally, because the convention is a binding international agreement for all signatory parties.
She pointed out that even Articles 20 and 21 of the convention, which grant Turkey special control over the passage of military ships through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits in case the country engages in war or feels directly threatened by conflict, do not grant Turkey the right to arbitrarily amend or withdraw from the convention.
Previously, Mr. Omer Celik - spokesman for Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) - said that some NATO allies had asked Ankara to consider the possibility of exemption from some provisions of the Montreux Convention. However, he affirmed that Turkey remains steadfast in complying with the convention.
The Montreux Convention was signed in 1936 in Switzerland by representatives of 10 countries including Australia, Bulgaria, England, Greece, Romania, the Soviet Union, Turkey, France, Yugoslavia (former) and Japan.
The Convention guarantees the freedom of navigation of merchant ships through the straits in peacetime. Article 19 stipulates that if Turkey does not participate in the conflict, the straits will be closed to warships of the warring parties or non-cooperative countries. Turkey has applied this clause since the conflict in Ukraine broke out in 2022.
According to the convention, all signatory parties have the right to propose amendments to the document. Amending important military provisions needs to be agreed upon by all signatory parties, while less important provisions need to be approved by at least 3/4 of the signatory parties, including Turkey.
Analysts note that changing the Montreux Convention will first of all be detrimental to Turkey itself, because according to the convention, Ankara holds control of maritime activities through the straits.
