US WARSHIP SAILS THROUGH STRAITS, RUSSIA SUSPICIOUS
Today’s Zaman
Aug 23 2008
Turkey
In a move likely to heat up tensions between the United States and
Russia over a conflict in the troubled Caucasus, a US Navy warship
sailed through the Turkish Straits yesterday to take relief supplies
to Georgia.
The guided missile destroyer USS McFaul passed through the Dardanelles
and the Bosporus, and two other ships, the US Coast Guard cutter Dallas
and the command ship USS Mount Whitney, will follow in the coming
days. "The USS McFaul is under way now, having taken on humanitarian
supplies for the people of Georgia," a spokes-man for the US Navy in
Europe said.
The two Navy ships and a US Coast Guard cutter are carrying relief
supplies, including bottled water, blankets, hygiene kits, baby food,
milk and nappies, said Cdr. Scott Miller, spokesman for the US 6th
Fleet. He stated that the McFaul and the Dallas were expected to arrive
in Georgia next week and the Mount Whitney around the end of the month.
A Polish ship also passed through the Turkish Straits yesterday,
but Turkish diplomatic sources emphasized that the ship was headed
to the Black Sea to take part in a NATO task mission that sources
said had been planned months ago.
Russia, which occupied part of Georgia in response to a Georgian
military offensive in the pro-Russia breakaway region of South Ossetia
early this month, expressed concern over the US Navy ships’ trip to
the Black Sea. "From the Russian point of view … the usefulness
of this operation is extremely dubious," Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy
chief of the Russian military’s General Staff was quoted by Reuters as
saying when asked about the US Navy mission to deliver aid to Georgia.
The ships are part of a humanitarian mission, but observers say it
is also a message of military deterrence by the United States to
Russia. The US military had already begun delivering relief supplies
by air a week ago.
Turkey, which has close ties with neighboring Georgia and is a key
strategic ally of Washington, has been walking a delicate diplomatic
line during the Caucasus conflict in order not to antagonize
Russia. Ankara, which has developed its trade ties with Russia and
relies on imports from Russia to meet its natural gas needs, fears
it could be caught in the middle of an undesired, Cold War-type
confrontation between Russia and the United States if tensions rise
further. Hoping for peaceful resolution of the crisis, Ankara has
been floating a proposal for a regional cooperation platform that is
planned to include Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The US request to send warships to the Black Sea put Ankara in a
difficult position as it insists all passages through the Turkish
Straits, the only sea outlet to the Black Sea, must be in compliance
with the international Montreux Convention. The US had initially
planned to send two Navy hospital ships that each weigh 70,000 tons,
far above the maximum weight allowed in the Montreux Convention. Ankara
refused, prompting further negotiations with the United States to
find a compromise. The three ships now headed to Georgia all meet
the standards set by the Montreux Convention.
There were concerns that the US could force Turkey to agree to changes
to the convention to be able to give a military message to Russia
by sending the two hospital ships. But Matt Bryza, deputy assistant
secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, said earlier
this week that the US had no intention of seeking revisions to the
Montreux Convention.
CHP questions policy
The rising tensions have increased opposition pressure on the
government at home. The main opposition Republican People’s Party
(CHP), which views government efforts to create a Caucasus regional
platform to resolve regional crises with suspicion, yesterday formally
requested a statement on whether the US ships transiting the Turkish
Straits met Montreux standards.
The CHP’s Onur Oymen issued a formal inquiry to Foreign Minister
Ali Babacan over whether the United States complied with Montreux
requirements that all warship transits have to be declared to Turkish
authorities eight days in advance.
Foreign Ministry officials state that Ankara has not been forced to
compromise, as the three ships meet the requirements stipulated by the
Montreux Convention. "As has been the case for around seven decades,
we haven’t made any exception to the 1936 Montreux Convention, and
we will never make such an exception. Turkey is extremely sensitive
on this issue," an official told Today’s Zaman on Thursday.
The Foreign Ministry yesterday issued a written statement in which
it reiterated that foreign-flagged military ships are passing through
the Turkish Straits to the Black Sea in line with the notices conveyed
to Turkish authorities and in compliance with the Montreux Convention.
"In this context, four ships belonging to the Standing NATO Maritime
Group 1 — Spain (SPS Almirante Don Juan de Borbon), Germany
(FGS Luebeck), Poland (ORP General Kazimierz Pulaski) and US (USS
Taylor) — will visit the ports of Constanza in Romania and Varna
in Bulgaria in the west Black Sea and our country’s Ä°stanbul ports
for training and as part of NATO’s planned activities approved in
October 2007. Excluding this, passages of other foreign military ships
including those of the US are being done in line with the Montreux
Convention," the statement said.
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