At a UN Security Council meeting on maritime security organized by Bahrain, Greece responded to remarks by Turkey’s Permanent Representative, Ahmet Yıldız, who referred to the “Turkish Straits.”

“Turkey is making every effort to ensure the safe and free passage of vessels through these waterways. The transit regime through the Turkish Straits is governed by the Montreux Convention, which has established a political and military balance in the Black Sea between coastal and non-coastal states since 1936,” the Turkish representative stated.

Greece’s Deputy Permanent Representative, Ioannis Stamatikos, responded that “the Montreux Convention of 1936 is the sole international legal instrument regulating navigation through the Dardanelles Straits, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus, and it guarantees freedom of navigation in these waterways.”

Mr. Stamatikos added that “respecting the terminology of the Montreux Convention aims to preserve and reaffirm the freedom it enshrines.”

“The use of the term ‘Turkish Straits’ is not consistent with the Montreux Convention of 1936 regarding the status of the Straits. The terminology, according to the Convention, is ‘the Straits,’ specifically ‘the Straits of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus,’” he concluded.