site.btaTurkiye, Romania and Bulgaria to Sign Agreement to Clean Up Drifting Mines in Black Sea

Turkiye, Romania and Bulgaria will sign an agreement in January on a joint plan to clean up drifting mines in the Black Sea, Reuters reported.
The news was announced on Saturday by Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler after months of talks between the three NATO allies.

Representatives of Turkiye, Romania and Bulgaria met in April 2022 with their counterparts from Georgia, Poland and Ukraine to discuss demining following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The defence ministers of the three Black Sea NATO members also discussed the plan at an alliance meeting in Brussels in October, as well as in Ankara in November.

Guler told reporters in Ankara that the tripartite initiative would for now only include Turkiye, Romania and Bulgaria, and that the defence ministers of the three countries planned to sign the agreement on January 11 in Istanbul. "Due to the war between Ukraine and Russia, mines have been placed in both Ukrainian and Russian ports. Sometimes they break free and reach our straits because of currents," Guler said.

"Our minesweepers will conduct permanent patrols up to the point where the Romanian (sea) border ends," the Turkish Minister said.