Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
“The Black Sea should be away from competition,” the Turkish defense minister said in response to NATO and the US’s demand to send warships to the Black Sea during the Ukraine conflict.
The third countries, particularly the NATO allies, should better not demand to send their warships to the Black Sea during the war between Ukraine and Russia, the Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar has said, warning them not to turn the Black Sea into an area of competition.
“We want the balance not to be broken here [in the Black Sea], within the scope of the principle of regional ownership and the domination of the situation by the littoral countries. If the balance deteriorates, the probability of events getting out of control is very high. Let’s not turn the Black Sea into an environment of competition. That’s what we’re saying openly,” Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Monday, April 25.
According to Hurriyet daily, Akar reiterated that Turkey calls on the third party countries in a kind way they should stay away from the region during the war without the need for revoking the Montreux Convention that regulates the passage from the Turkish straits in times of war and peace. Turkey had declared that it started to impose article 19 of the convention that restricts the passage of the warships of the warring sides, Ukraine and Russia, from the Turkish straits.
