Friday, August 22, 2025
Nordic Monitor
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
Nordic Monitor
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
  • About Us

Turkey opposed permanent NATO presence in the Black Sea, rebuffed Romanian proposal

January 20, 2020
A A
Turkey opposed permanent NATO presence in the Black Sea, rebuffed Romanian proposal

Turkish Navy Drill

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Nordic Monitor

 

Ahead of the NATO Warsaw summit in 2016, Romania sought Turkey’s support for establishing a permanent NATO presence in the Black Sea region but was rejected by Ankara, a confidential Turkish military document obtained by Nordic Monitor has confirmed.

According to the minutes of a meeting issued by the Plans and Principles Directorate of the Turkish General Staff in May 2016, representatives from the Defense Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, the relevant military forces and the Coast Guard Command met on May 26, 2016 to discuss Romanian proposals to establish a permanent NATO base in the Black Sea and to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two littoral states.

The minutes reveal that Romania had requested Turkey’s support for its diplomatic initiative aimed at setting up a regional naval command under NATO’s Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM), the headquarters of all NATO maritime forces. However, Turkish officials agreed to reject the Romanian proposal since it did not comply with Turkey’s policy on the Black Sea, the minutes stated.

Turkey had previously expressed concern about perceived Russian ambitions in the Black Sea region and called for a greater NATO presence there; however, its relations with Russia have improved since 2016, and Turkey has become resistant to backing a more substantial NATO role in the Black Sea.

 

First page of the Turkish military document:

 

 

Turkish officials stressed at the meeting that stability in the Black Sea should be maintained (paragraph 2.a); NATO activities would be supported in accordance with the limitations imposed by the Montreux Convention (paragraph 2.b); and Russia should not be unnecessarily provoked (paragraph 2.b), the military minutes revealed.

Turkey is a key country in the Black Sea since it controls the entrance and exit to the sea through the Turkish Straits system, which includes the Istanbul/Bosporus strait, the Dardanelles/Çanakkale strait and the Marmara Sea, connecting the Black and Mediterranean seas.

The l936 Montreux Convention gave the country control over the system and guaranteed the free passage of civilian vessels during peacetime. The convention stipulates that only littoral states can have a standing naval presence in the Black Sea. The tonnage and time spent in the Black Sea by ships from non-littoral states is restricted to 21 days, and submarines and aircraft carriers of non-littoral states are banned altogether.

 

Second page of the document:

 

 

 

The Foreign Ministry was working on Turkey’s maritime security concept in the Black Sea, and a new concept paper was to take the Romanian and Bulgarian proposals into account, the minutes stated. According to the military document, the Bulgarian bilateral cooperation plan was not discussed during the meeting.

Moreover, the minutes underlined that the Turkish officials agreed not to oppose the formation of a multinational land brigade in Romania, adding that a Turkish brigade would be affiliated with the Romanian Multinational Division South-East (MND-SE). Romania’s initiative to launch the Combined Joint Enhanced Training Center would also be supported by Turkey.

 

NATO exercise in the Black Sea in July 2019 (Photo: NATO web page)

 

Romania was invited to join the North Atlantic Alliance at the NATO summit in Prague in 2002 along with Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia and officially became a NATO member in March 2004. Four years later, it hosted the NATO summit in Bucharest on April 2-4, 2008.

According to its military strategy document, Romania, in terms of the NATO Force Structure, hosts the Multinational Division Southeast Headquarters, the NATO Force Integration Unit, the Deployable Communications Module Element and the Deveselu Missile Defense Base.

Romania considered Russia’s takeover of Crimea in March 2014 a direct threat and pressed NATO to have a strong presence in the Black Sea. Following the annexation of Crimea, naval assets from several allied nations and NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 2 increased military exercises in the region and regularly train for combat proficiency in the Black Sea. Furthermore, a Black Sea functional center has been established within MARCOM, and a multinational land brigade was formed in Craiova, Romania.

 

Last page of the document:

 

ShareTweet
Previous Post

ISIS terrorists who planned attack on French Embassy freed by Turkish court after detention

Next Post

Document shows Turkish court designated slain Qasem Soleimani as head of terrorist organization in 2000

Nordic Monitor

Nordic Monitor

[email protected]

Next Post
Document shows Turkish court designated slain Qasem Soleimani as head of terrorist organization in 2000

Document shows Turkish court designated slain Qasem Soleimani as head of terrorist organization in 2000

Please login to join discussion
Turkey’s richest people hide their identities as unexplained wealth, money laundering and favoritism raise alarm

Turkey’s richest people hide their identities as unexplained wealth, money laundering and favoritism raise alarm

August 22, 2025
Turkish gov’t leveraged bribes to New York mayor to undermine Erdogan’s opponents

New York watchdog puts a new spotlight on Turkey’s meddling in US elections

August 21, 2025
Erdogan uses Turkish NGOs to project power, advance political Islamist goal

Erdogan uses Turkish NGOs to project power, advance political Islamist goal

August 20, 2025
Secret report reveals Turkish police and intelligence have unrestricted access to citizens’ private data

Secret report reveals Turkish police and intelligence have unrestricted access to citizens’ private data

August 19, 2025
Former Turkish Airlines employee laundered money for US drug traffickers

Former Turkish Airlines employee laundered money for US drug traffickers

August 18, 2025
Document shows Turkish diplomats spied on an Erdogan critic who was kidnapped in Kenya

Turkey intensifies global hunt for critics, report finds

August 15, 2025
FBI affidavit reveals Turkey as conduit for ISIS financing while Syria frees ISIS captives

FBI affidavit reveals Turkey as conduit for ISIS financing while Syria frees ISIS captives

August 14, 2025
Turkey unable to push Russia to speed up nuclear plant construction as financial and diplomatic tensions mount

Turkey unable to push Russia to speed up nuclear plant construction as financial and diplomatic tensions mount

August 13, 2025
Loyalty to Erdogan becomes only factor in Turkey’s 2025 military promotions

Loyalty to Erdogan becomes only factor in Turkey’s 2025 military promotions

August 12, 2025
The case of indicted American-Turkish ISIS suspect reveals how Turkey became a hub for jihadists

Turkey was a conduit for jihadists to join ISIS in Syria, FBI told US court

August 11, 2025

Nordic Monitor

Nordic Monitor is a news web site and tracking site that is run by the Stockholm-based Nordic Research and Monitoring Network. It covers religious, ideological and ethnic extremist movements and radical groups, with a special focus on Turkey.

Tags

al-Qaeda Andrei Karlov China Cyprus Diyanet Egypt Erdogan espionage Germany Greece Gülen Movement Hakan Fidan Hamas Hulusi Akar Ibrahim Kalın IHH Iran IRGC Quds Force ISIL ISIS Isis al-qaida Israel Libya Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı MIT Muslim Brotherhood NATO President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Profiling Qatar Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Russia SADAT spying Spying Activities Suleyman Soylu Sweden Syria Torture Turkey Turkish Intelligence Agency Turkish intelligence agency MIT Ukraine United States

Recent News

Turkey’s richest people hide their identities as unexplained wealth, money laundering and favoritism raise alarm

Turkey’s richest people hide their identities as unexplained wealth, money laundering and favoritism raise alarm

August 22, 2025
Turkish gov’t leveraged bribes to New York mayor to undermine Erdogan’s opponents

New York watchdog puts a new spotlight on Turkey’s meddling in US elections

August 21, 2025
Erdogan uses Turkish NGOs to project power, advance political Islamist goal

Erdogan uses Turkish NGOs to project power, advance political Islamist goal

August 20, 2025

Copyright © Nordic Research and Monitoring Network All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us

Copyright © Nordic Research and Monitoring Network All rights reserved.