Last December Turkish government prohibited the big-volume tankers to ship through the channels at night. Other restrictions were also introduced. At first this was being explained by the unexpected worsening of weather. But in the beginning of this year the Minister of Energy Gilmi Gyuller said that the introduced regime will be maintained. As a result, there is a big traffic at the approaches of the channels. The transportation companies were failing their contracts because the terms of deliveries were becoming unreal. Not only the transporters but also the oil producers and consumers were suffering big losses. According to Azerbaijani press, this situation obliged the Russian producers to stop one of the oil pipelines on the Black Sea as all the reservoirs were full and the loading of tankers was postponed. The western press has already plainly accused Ankara of ”trying to offer protection to the operators of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project”. In Europe they understand that Turks are make use of their geographical situation allowing them to control the transit of ladings from Black Sea to the Mediterranean.
The Turkish government has declared war to the oil transporters in summer 2002. Then a regime supposing restrictions of the volumes of ships was introduced. It was done as if to prevent the possible accidents that could have consequences for the ecology. But they forget the dangers that will cause to the ecology ”Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan” project, especially taking into account the fact that the pipeline will be laid through seismically active regions. However, Ankara is trying to make the experts use the ”Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan” pipeline in order to save this project. It is known that the project can not be expedient. That is why the only way-out is to make other exporters use the services of international consortium. It’s worth noting that the strengthening of the rules is contradicting to the international commitments of Turkey. The agreement signed by the government of the country in 1936 assigns the special status of the channels which are recognized as free for international shipping. From that time Bosporus has become neither narrow nor wider. It means that the international agreements remain in force. And their violation by Turkey must be adequately evaluated by the world community.
