Turkiye increasingly unnerved about Black Sea shipping security
REUTERS/Victor Sayenko
Turkish
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned that the war in the Black Sea is entering a
“life-or-death” phase and that attacks are increasingly striking civilian
merchant vessels, Turkish newspaper Yeni Şafak reported on Aug. 11.
Fidan said the situation is becoming dangerous and that parties could resort to “the last available means.” He said he has presented a package of measures to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and is implementing them, without providing details, the paper reported.
Yeni Şafak said Ankara has repeatedly urged Moscow and Kyiv to halt attacks in the Black Sea. Fidan has proposed a moratorium, but attacks have continued to intensify, the report said.
Bloomberg earlier reported that Turkiye has restricted commercial shipping in the Black Sea because of the attacks. A Turkish official told Reuters the government was highly concerned about security in the waters and had imposed temporary measures, while transit through the Turkish straits remains open under the Montreux Convention.
Yeni Şafak reporters said they monitored the Dardanelles with real-time ship-tracking sites and saw a large number of vessels waiting to pass. A maritime industry source told the paper that some ships bound for Russia and Ukraine were unable to enter the straits for nearly a week for “technical reasons.” Traffic had returned to normal by Saturday evening.
Separately, Turkish officials are reportedly discussing a possible ban on fishing outside the country’s territorial waters in the Black Sea because of risks to Turkish fishermen.
Yeni Şafak said the measures announced so far are temporary and that Black Sea maritime security requires lasting structural solutions. The paper pointed to the successful grain corridor and proposals for a bilateral corridor in the Strait of Hormuz (one route along each country’s coast) as models.
By the same logic, the paper said, two separate safe
corridors could be established in the Black Sea: one for ships bound for Russia
and one for those bound for Ukraine, with both sides pledging not to strike
vessels on those routes.
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