Turkey Announces Closure of the Dardanelles Strait

Due to forest fires, the Dardanelles Strait is closed to ship traffic heading towards the Sea of Marmara. This was announced by Turkey's Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), as reported by TASS.

"Due to a forest fire in the Çanakkale-Kepez region, the movement of vessels in the Dardanelles has been temporarily halted in the south-north direction. Ship movement is currently being conducted in one direction," the statement reads.

On August 17, Haber Global television reported, citing sources from Turkey's National Defense Ministry, that the republic is ready to guarantee the passage of Ukrainian agricultural goods through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits. It was noted that no vessels have yet departed from Ukraine.

Prior to this, Turkey's Minister of Transport Abdulkadir Uraloğlu announced that starting from July 1, Ankara would raise the transit fee for vessels passing through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits by more than 8%.