Türkiye blocks passage of mine clearing ships to Ukraine
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Great Britain wants to support Ukraine with two mine clearers. But the special ships cannot reach the Black Sea for the time being: Turkey refuses to allow passage through the Bosporus. Ankara invokes the Montreux Treaty.
DTurkey is blocking the handover of two mine clearing ships to Ukraine. The government in Ankara announced on Tuesday that it would not allow the two ships donated to Ukraine by the British Navy to pass through its waters to the Black Sea. This violates international agreements on crossing the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, which belong to Turkey, during wartime.
The ships of the Sandown class are predominantly made of composite materials and can defuse mines up to 200 meters deep. Of the twelve minesweepers produced for Great Britain, three are still in use in the Royal Navy. Decommissioned copies were also sold to Romania and Estonia.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Turkey blocked the passage of warships from the states involved in the war, i.e. Russia and Ukraine, in accordance with the Montreux Agreement of 1936. According to the Montreux Convention, warships of non-belligerent parties are allowed to transit the straits.
The agreement also states that the Turkish government has the final say over the passage of all warships if Turkey feels at risk of being drawn into a war.
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