Can you please not change the title? The original title is "Turkey to implement international pact on access to shipping straits due to Ukraine war"
Turkey has NOT closed the Black sea; this article does not say that at all.
Turkey has stated continuously in last few days that it will follow the Montreux Convention, under which they cannot restrict vessels going back to their home base, including Russian ones.
The gist is, Montreux Convention ensures free travel through the straits at peacetime but allows for restrictions at wartime. Wartime could be a war that involves the countries with a shore on the Black sea but not Turkey or a war where Turkey is involved too.
So the news is, Turkey took its time to decide if this is a War or a limited time military operation and come to conclusion that this is a war indeed. As a result Turkey activated the passage restrictions for military ships at a wartime where Turkey is not taking part in. This essentially means, the Russian(an other Black sea nations) ships that are based in the Black sea can get through but Turkey may restrict those based elsewhere. It also means that Turkey can restrict American and other 3rd party warships from passing through the Bosphorus.
The purpose of the Montreux Convention is to keep peace in the Black sea by allowing free movement at peacetime(Turks can't stop ships from passing, therefore no reason to take it away from Turkey with force) and predefined restrictions at wartime(Turks can stop ships that are not based there, therefore limit the military build up), so this is not necessarily a pro-Russian or pro-Ukrainian move.
Turkey sees the Montreux Convention as a primary mean to keep Turkey neutral in conflicts involving Russia and Istanbul out of the interests of large powers.
> Turkey has stated continuously in last few days that it will follow the Montreux Convention, under which they cannot restrict vessels going back to their home base, including Russian ones.
Your comment is misleading:
"Turkey called Russia's invasion of Ukraine a "war" on Sunday in a rhetorical shift that could pave the way for the NATO member nation to enact an international pact limiting Russian naval passage to the Black Sea."
"Under the 1936 Montreux Convention, Turkey has control over the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits that connect the Mediterranean and Black seas and can limit the passage of warships during wartime or if threatened."
> "Clearly they are reconsidering what they said."
I don't think that is the case. The short answer is, here's a link to a more detailed version of the article above - their recent change is calling it a "war", which allows them to trigger Montreux:
"Yet Cavusoglu (Turkey Foreign Minister) reiterated that Turkey cannot block all Russian warships accessing the Black Sea due to a clause in the pact exempting those returning to their registered base."
The long answer is, if you have been following European and Turkish politics in the last few years, you would see that Turkey is getting closer and closer to Russia (the F-35 debacle, getting S400 missile batteries, Turkstream etc). Turkey is also smart enough to play both sides. So, this move (to do nothing) is expected.
Turkey has NOT closed the Black sea; this article does not say that at all.
Turkey has stated continuously in last few days that it will follow the Montreux Convention, under which they cannot restrict vessels going back to their home base, including Russian ones.