Foreign Ministry: Closure Of Straits During Nato Summit Is Regardless Of Question

ANKARA - Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Friday that closure of the Straits during NATO summit between June 28 and 29 was out of question.
A statement from the ministry said there were several news reports stating that Turkish straits would be closed during the NATO summit, stressing ''those news reports fail to reflect the realities.''
The statement said Turkey would only use its right to arrange the traffic and took several measures during the summit for security reasons.
The statement said several arrangements took place in sea traffic in the Turkish Straits due to the security observations of the related authorities, and noted that the arrangements were made without damaging passage regime of Montreux Straits Convention dated 1936.
Under the arrangements:
''-Traffic of ships carrying hazardous items like oil and LPG will be suspended.
-Passage of passenger ships and warships will continue during the summit.
-Other ships, apart from those above, would continue their passage from the Straits. However, traffic of those ships could be suspended with security reasons if necessary.''
The statement emphasized that the said measures were announced to all countries, and noted that, ''closure of Turkish Straits during NATO summit is out of question. Our country only used its right to arrange traffic and took security measures for security reasons.''
(AY-AÖ) 11.06.2004