"As Turkey, we provide security in the Black Sea. They [the US] should not turn the Black Sea into a Middle East," Adm. Ercüment Tatlıoğlu, commander of the Turkish Naval Forces, said at an event to mark the establishment of a naval school.
"That is why we do not want any country or NATO to enter the Black Sea,” he added.
“Our goal is for Montreux to be respected. We have provided security for everyone in the Black Sea," Turkish Minute quoted him as saying.
Under the 1936 Montreux Convention, Ankara has control over the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits and can limit warship passage if it is threatened or during wartime.
MP/PR