The United States is confident that Turkey will implement the Montreux Convention regarding Turkish straits in the most appropriate manner, the spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Turkey said Wednesday.
“Turkey has successfully and effectively implemented the Montreux Convention for years and we are sure that Turkey will implement it in the most appropriate manner,” Julie Eadeh said.
She continued by saying that Washington will continue to keep in touch with Ankara to discuss how to best approach Russia’s attempts to disturb the international order.
Turkey announced that it closed the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits to the passage of warships amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Under the 1936 Montreux Convention, NATO member Turkey has control over the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, linking the Mediterranean and Black seas. The pact gives Ankara the power to regulate the transit of naval warships and to close the straits to foreign warships during wartime and when it is threatened.
On Tuesday, Germany’s Foreign Ministry also said it appreciates Ankara’s decision to implement the provisions of the convention.
Since Russia began its war on Ukraine last Thursday, it has been met with outrage from the international community. The European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and the U.S. have implemented a range of financial sanctions on Moscow.
Many Western countries are also supplying Ukraine with weapons, have shut their airspace for Russian airlines, and banned or restricted Russian state-run media.
The number of people who have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries has reached 677,000, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).
