A confrontation Greece and Turkey at the UN over the term “Turkish Straits” centred on the Montre Convention and the international navigation regime of the Straits.
Greece and Turkey have been at the focus of a heated diplomatic debate at the UN Security Council over the use of terminology for the Straits linking the Black Sea to the Aegean and Mediterranean, as discussion brought the legal status of the Montreux Convention and the interpretations around freedom of navigation and the geopolitical balance in the region to the fore, at a time when the two sides exchanged positions in a strong diplomatic tone on how the Straits should be called and what the international framework governing them is.
At the UN Security Council meeting on marine security organized by Bahrain, Greece responded to the statement by Turkish Permanent Representative Ahmed Yildiz, who referred to the Turkish Straits.
The statement
“Turkey is making every effort to ensure the safe and free passage of ships through these sea lanes. The transit regime through the “Turkish Straits” is regulated by the Montreux Convention, which has established a political and military balance in the Black Sea between coastal and non-coastal countries since 1936,” the Turkish Permanent Representative said.
The Rev. Permanent Representative of Greece Ioannis Stamatekos said that “the Montreux Convention of 1936 is the only international legal text that regulates navigation in the Straits of Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus, and guarantees freedom of navigation in them.”
Mr. Stamatekos went on to say that “therefore, respect for the terminology of the Montreux Convention is intended to preserve and affirm this freedom enshrined therein.”
“The use of the term ‘Turkish Straits’ is not consistent with the 1936 Montreux Convention, as far as the status of the Straits is concerned. The terminology under the Montreux Convention is “the Straits”, namely “the Straits of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara and the Bosporus”.
