Turkey answers Ukraine's great prayer for Russian ships: But it's not positive.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has said Turkey cannot stop entering Russia's warships through its straits -- the demand made by Ukraine -- because an international clause allowing ship returns to their bases would be broken.

Reuters reports that Ukraine had appealed to Turkey to block Russia's access to the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus Straits leading to the Black Sea after Moscow launched a comprehensive attack on land, air and sea in the direction of Ukraine.

Russian forces entered Ukraine from the ports of the Azov Sea and the Black Sea as part of the invasion. According to the 1936 Montreux Convention, Turkey has control over its straits and can limit the entrances of wartime warships or if it feels threatened, but demand has put the NATO member state in a difficult position as the Turkish state wants to prove its devotion to the West and at the same time preserve close relations with Russia.

Speaking from Kazakhstan, Minister Mevluut Cavusoglu said Turkey is studying Ukraine's request, but said that, under the Convention, Russia has the right to return ships to their bases, in this case on the Black Sea. So even if Turkey accepted Ukraine's request and closed its straits for Russian ships, they would only be banned from travel in the other direction, away from their base in the Mediterranean, he said./Guardian/Periscopi