Turkey’s Closure of Black Sea Straits Seen as Symbolic

Turkey’s announcement Monday that it has implemented a convention that bars most warships from passing between the Black and Mediterranean seas is mostly a symbolic gesture, analysts tell The Media Line, as Ankara walks a fine line between Ukraine and Russia, both countries that it has a good relationship with. Under the Montreux Convention of 1936, during wartime, vessels such as those of the Russian Black Sea Fleet are still able to sail from the Mediterranean to their home bases through the Dardanelles and Bosporus – the straits connecting the Aegean Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean, to the Sea of Marmara and on to the Black Sea. Turkey last applied the convention during World War II, preventing the Axis powers from sending naval forces through the straits to attack the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Turkey has offered to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. Kristina Jovanovski brings us the full story.