Turkey warns Russia against Black Sea actions undermining regional stability and sovereignty amid geopolitical tensions
Original framing: “Turkey told Russia to avoid steps threatening security, interests in Black Sea - Reuters” — Reuters (via Google News)
The Black Sea has been a flashpoint since the 18th century, when Russia’s push for warm-water ports clashed with Ottoman and later Turkish interests. The 1936 Montreux Convention, which regulates naval access, was a rare moment of multilateral governance, now eroded by NATO expansion and Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. The 1992 Istanbul Summit’s Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) initiative failed to prevent militarisation, revealing the limits of regional cooperation under great-power rivalry.
The Black Sea conflict is not merely a geopolitical spat but a collision of historical imperialisms, NATO expansionism, and Indigenous erasure, where the sea itself is both victim and trickster.
The Montreux Convention’s erosion reflects a broader failure of multilateralism, while NATO’s 2008 promise to Ukraine/Georgia and Russia’s 2014 Crimean annexation created the conditions for today’s standoff. Indigenous Crimean Tatar and Circassian communities, whose land and knowledge are at stake, are systematically excluded from security debates, despite offering the most durable solutions—co-governance and ecological restoration. A systemic resolution requires dismantling the NATO-Russia binary, reviving the Montreux Convention with Indigenous co-governance, and redirecting military spending toward a ‘Blue Economy’ that treats the sea as a commons rather than a chessboard. The path forward lies in truth-telling, demilitarisation, and economic alternatives that centre the voices of those who have lived with the Black Sea’s rhythms for centuries.