Neither is the government in a position to do much, even if it wanted to, since the 1936 Montreux Convention explicitly guarantees the free passage of shipping through the Turkish straits. Critics point out that when the treaty was drawn up, an average of 17 ships a day passed through the Bosphorus, and supertankers did not even exist. The Turkish Maritime Pilots Association calculates that nearly 5,000 tankers completed the passage last year, over 2,000 of them longer than 200 meters. Better piloting procedures and a new radar tracking system are also due to be introduced shortly. That statement dismayed Russia, which has accused Turkey of trying to block the maritime shipment of Kazakh oil in a bid to promote the alternative Baku-Ceyhan pipeline project.
Experts detect an element of truth in that assessment, as far as it goes.
They are plain for all to see. Nevertheless, Russian influence over the future of Caspian oil has never been greater. Turkish politicians would do well to remember that at the summit of Turkic-speaking nations, held at the Ciragan Palace on the Bosphorus at the end of April, the lingua franca was not Turkish, but Russian. Designed by Capt.