Turkey Has Not Closed the Black Sea to Russian Warships

Khadija Boufous

Politics

26th February 2022

Turkey Has Not Closed the Black Sea to Russian Warships

Turkey said nothing about the Black Sea closure (Getty).

The Claim

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has banned the Russian warships' passage to the Black Sea.

News posted on

Pandey Preeti 🇮🇳(Sahara Samay)

EHA News

Emerging story

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted on February 26, 2022, thanking Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for banning Russian warships from the Black Sea.

Following Zelensky’s tweet, many social media users have circulated the news of the Turkish closing of the Black Sea to Russian warships.

A supporting image within the article body

Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar has investigated the claim and found it to be fake.

According to The Middle East Eye article, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan did not tell Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Turkey would close the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits to Russian warships. The website sources have mentioned that Turkey has not decided to close the straits to Russian ships.

Turkish official statement has cited that Erdogan spoke to Zelensky today, 26th February, and reassured him that Turkey is making efforts for an immediate ceasefire but did not mention anything related to the Black Sea closure.

Cumhurbaşkanımız @RTErdogan, Ukrayna Cumhurbaşkanı Volodimir Zelenski ile bir telefon görüşmesi gerçekleştirdi.

Görüşmede, Rusya’nın Ukrayna’ya askerî müdahalesi ve son gelişmeler ele alındı.
— T.C. İletişim Başkanlığı (@iletisim) February 26, 2022

Other websites have cited that Turkey hasn’t made any public statements “confirming the closure of the straits to Russian warships, although Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke with Zelensky by phone earlier today.”