New Black Sea mission could score Turkey points with NATO

A trilateral agreement inked between Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania to jointly tackle the problem of stray mines in the Black Sea is not only important for naval security amid the war in Ukraine, but also bears on Ankara’s relations with its NATO partners as well as the status of the Montreux Convention of 1936, which established full Turkish sovereignty over the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

At present, there seem to be two different interpretations of the Mine Countermeasures Naval Group in the Black Sea (MCM Black Sea) agreement. The Turkish side says that the mission will remain a trilateral initiative and keep non-littoral NATO allies out of the Black Sea.

“We value other non-littoral allies’ expectations [to contribute] to this initiative. However, this initiative will only be open to the ships of the three littoral states,” Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler said after signing the agreement. 

Flanked by his Romanian counterpart, Angel Tilvar, and Bulgarian Deputy Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov, Guler added, “Others can join when conditions are formed in due course.”