Erdogan warns withdrawal from Montreux Treaty

It was not the case that the episode came as Erdogan finds himself in the middle of a more intense political passage of his career, as the deterioration of pandemic and economics has left the president to slip into opinion polls even when he amasss more competence.

To inspire the faithful of the party, Erdogan has returned to warn one of his major favourite ideas: to build a canal through Istanbul, from the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea to open a new parallel transport route with the narrow Bosphorus.

According to NYT, the use of those natural waterways is directed by the Montreux Convention, an international treaty signed in 1936. In addition to his support for the canal construction project, Erdogan has signaled that he may give up the treaty. The alarm didn't take long.

Under the treaty, Turkey agreed to free passage of civilian and commercial ships, but a strict control of warships, particularly of foreign powers, which have maintained peace in the region.

Among the first to strongly oppose Turkey's retired Admirals, who last weekend placed their names in an open letter warning that the Montreal Convention was an important founding document for Turkey's security and sovereignty and should not be put to debate.

Admirals are far from the canal's only opponents. The others include Istanbul's renowned mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, along with environmentalists, ecologists and urban planners.

But the Admirals drew particular anger from Erdogan, whose government quickly withdrew.

Ten of the signatories were arrested on Monday, and four others were not imprisoned because of their advanced years. Erdogan accused them of plotting a coup, a toxic charge after four years with thousands of bans and Purges since the last failed coup in the state.

Most analysts said Erdogan and his advisers knew the inability to change the Montreal Convention, but that the veteran politician is using the issue to set up a storm.

“It is the government's way to lobby for the channel,” said Asli Aydintasbas, an old member of the European Council for Foreign Relations.