Turkey to act accordingly under Montreux: FM

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said Russia's military operation into Ukraine has turned into a war and Turkey will act accordingly over its straits in line with the Montreux Convention.

"Under these conditions, we will apply the Montreux agreement. Article 19 is pretty clear. In the beginning, it was a Russian attack and we evaluated it with experts, soldiers, and lawyers. Now it has turned into a war. This is not a military operation; it is officially a state of war," he told private broadcaster CNN Türk on Feb. 27.

In this case, of course, Turkey will "apply the Montreux agreement this way," he said.

He recalled that the warships of littoral states can return their fleet to their bases through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and Turkey cannot prevent this passage.

"Here it is clear whether the [concerned] ship is registered to the base. There should be no abuse. She should not be involved in a war after saying she will go back to the base and passing through the Bosphorus," the minister stated.

Allegations that Turkey is not participating in the sanctions are not true, he added.

"We have made our statements; they are very clear. We said that we do not accept the attacks of Russia. Turkey's position is very clear. Our aim is to be in favor of dialogue," the minister also said, elaborating on Ankara's decision to abstain in a vote of the Council of Europe which suspended Russia from its rights of representation in the Committee of Ministers and in the Parliamentary Assembly.

Mevlut Cavusoglu,