Turkey's strategic relations with Russia can't be ignored
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Turkish Prime Minister said nobody should ignore the country’s strategic relations with Russia and its allies should understand this. He rejected demands to amend the 1936 Montreux Convention on Turkish straits.
“The U.S. is our ally but Russia is our strategic neighbor. We buy two thirds of our energy from Russia. It is my largest trade partner… Nobody should expect us to ignore those. Our allies should show understanding,” Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters on his way to Ankara from Damascus, Hurriyet daily reported.
He said the passage of NATO warships from straits were made in line with the international agreements.
“Some countries demand to amend the Montrux (Convention), but we are not warm to these (ideas). Our commander of Navy Forces recently met with his Russian counterpart at one of our ships. Such meetings could contribute to peace in Black Sea,” he added.
The tension in the Black Sea has increased recently with the passages of U.S. navy ships carrying humanitarian aid to Georgia from straits. Ankara earlier refused to open its straits to two hospital ships of the U.S. Navy but agreed to the passage of smaller cruisers, in line with the 1936 Montreux Convention.
The two hospital ships tonnage exceeded the limits set by the Montreux Convention, which governs international traffic through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits. Under the convention, the total weight of the warships that countries not bordering the Black Sea can deploy was limited to 45,000 tons.
Russia said on Friday it could appeal to the United Nations if the NATO ships stay in the Black Sea longer than 21 days, maximum time set by the Montreux Convention and blamed Washington for encouraging Georgian aggression.
"The new promises to Tbilisi relating to the speedy membership of NATO simply strengthen the Saakashvili regime's dangerous feeling of impunity and encourages its dangerous ambitions," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told reporters.
Nesterenko said the arrival in a Georgian port of the USS Mount Whitney, a sophisticated command warship, may breach a 1936 convention on naval activity in the Black Sea, but he ruled out any military action by Russian forces over its presence.
"Should the convention be violated, then the issue should probably be considered by the United Nations or other international organisations because we are talking about violations of a well-known international agreement," he said.