Turkey’s defense ministry said on Thursday it is stepping up sea and air patrols in the Black Sea after a series of attacks on tankers near its coast but warns that no amount of military precaution can replace a lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Ministry spokesman Rear Adm. Zeki Aktürk answered questions about three recent strikes on commercial ships in the Black Sea and a larger rise in security risks for trade routes and energy lines in the region.
“We are taking measures and initiatives against maritime threats arising from the war within the scope of our principle of regional ownership,” Aktürk said. “However, even if we minimize the threats from the sea and the security confusion in the Black Sea with these measures, a stable and secure sea environment requires lasting peace.”
The comments came after three tankers with Russian links reported attacks in or near waters where Turkey has responsibility for search and rescue operations. All three were outside Turkey’s territorial waters but inside or close to its exclusive economic zone, a maritime belt where coastal states have special rights to resources and environmental protection.
At the end of November Ukrainian officials said naval drones hit two empty tankers, the Kairos and the Virat, on their way to the Russian port of Novorossiysk. The tankers were described as part of a “shadow fleet” that moves Russian oil under foreign flags to avoid Western sanctions imposed after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
On Monday a third Russia flagged tanker, the MIDVOLGA 2, carrying sunflower oil to Georgia, said it came under attack about 130 kilometers, or roughly 80 miles, off the northern Turkish city of Sinop. The crew was not hurt and did not request assistance, Turkish authorities said.
Turkey has condemned the strikes, which Ukrainian officials say are meant to cut Russia’s oil revenue, not to threaten Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called the attacks on commercial ships in Turkey’s exclusive economic zone “unacceptable” and a “worrying escalation” and said Ankara is warning “all parties” involved.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan raised the issue with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at a meeting in Brussels this week. Turkish officials say they discussed Black Sea safety and efforts to end the war, as growing risk has pushed up insurance costs and led Turkish company Beşiktaş Shipping to halt its operations tied to Russian ports.
Turkey is a member of NATO but has maintained close energy and trade ties with Russia. It sells armed drones to Ukraine, has hosted talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators and helped broker a now-suspended grain deal that allowed Ukrainian exports to pass through a safe corridor in the Black Sea to the Bosporus and out to world markets.
The tanker attacks have now brought the war’s maritime front closer to Turkey’s shores.
Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar on Wednesday warned that the strikes could endanger vital oil and gas routes under the Black Sea, including pipelines that carry Russian gas to Turkey and onward to Europe. He said Ankara has told both Moscow and Kyiv to keep energy infrastructure out of the conflict.