Russian President Vladimir Putin calling on the Ukrainian army to remove the country's leadership is unacceptable, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Friday, indicating that this call is odd.
“We will implement the Montreux Convention with all its articles. We will implement it as before word by word, without a double standard," he told Turkish television network NTV.
Ukraine had asked Turkey to close the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits to Russian ships, after Russia launched air and ground assaults on its neighbor.
The request puts NATO member Turkey, which shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good relations with both countries, in a difficult position. Under the 1936 pact, Ankara has control over the straits and can limit warship passages during wartime or if threatened.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said Ankara would try managing the crisis without abandoning ties with either Moscow or Kyiv, but has also called Russian steps against Ukraine unacceptable, while also offering to mediate.
While building close cooperation with Russia on defense and energy, Ankara has also sold sophisticated drones to Ukraine and signed a deal to co-produce more, angering Moscow.
Turkey opposes Russian policies in Syria and Libya, its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its 2008 recognition of two Georgian regions.
