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The Turkish Straits () are two internationally significant waterways in northwestern Turkey. The Straits create a series of international passages that connect the Aegean Sea and Mediterranean seas to the Black Sea. They consist of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus. The straits are on opposite ends of the Sea of Marmara. The straits and the Sea of Marmara are part of the sovereign sea territory of Turkey and are treated as Turkish internal waters.
Located in the western part of the landmass of Eurasia, the Straits are conventionally considered the boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia, as well as the dividing line between East Thrace and Anatolia. Owing to their strategic importance in international commerce, politics, and warfare, the Straits have played a significant role in European and world history. Since 1936, they have been governed in accordance with the Montreux Convention.
The Turkish Straits are made up of the following waterways;
Developments of economic activities threaten marine ecosystems including endemic and .
By the terms of the London Straits Convention concluded on 13 July 1841 between the Great Powers of Europe — Russian Empire, the United Kingdom, July Monarchy, Austrian Empire and Prussia — the "ancient rule" of the Ottoman Empire was re-established by closing the Turkish straits to all whatsoever, barring those of the Ottoman Sultan's allies during wartime. This treaty became one in a series dealing with access to the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles. It evolved from the secret 1833 Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi (Unkiar Skelessi), in which the Ottoman Empire guaranteed exclusive use of the Straits to "Black Sea Powers" (i.e., Ottoman Empire and Russian Empire) warships in the case of a general war.
The Straits became especially important in the course of World War I (1914–1918) as a potential link between the Triple Entente powers' Eastern and Western Fronts. Anglo-French naval forces failed to take control of the Dardanelles (February – March 1915), but in the secret Straits Agreement diplomacy of March – April 1915, the members of the Triple Entente agreed — in the event of victory in World War I — to cede Ottoman territory controlling and overlooking the Straits to the Russian Empire. Anglo-French troops then launched the Gallipoli campaign, an ultimately unsuccessful operation to take control of the Straits following amphibious landings on the Gallipoli (April 1915 to January 1916). The revolutions in Petrograd in 1917 ultimately stalled Russia's own plans to seize the Straits. On the Eastern Front , there were the Black Sea raid ,Cape Sarych,10 May 1915, Kirpen,8 January 1916.
The modern treaty controlling access is the 1936 Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits, which remains in force This Convention mandates that Republic of Turkey allow the free passage of all civilian vessels in peacetime, and requires Turkey to allow warships of some nations to traverse the straits in peacetime, but only under strict conditions – restrictions on number, size, length of stay if entering the Black Sea (if not a Black Sea power), advance notification to Turkey, and other conditions.
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