Turkey establishes Istanbul maritime command for Ukraine security mission

Turkey has established a maritime command in Istanbul that will lead the naval mission under prospective security guarantees for Ukraine, the Turkish defence ministry said on Thursday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in January, following the Coalition of the Willing summit in Paris, that Ankara would assume responsibility for a mission to help provide security in the Black Sea if Ukraine and Russia reach a final settlement to end the war that began in 2022.

The defence ministry said on Thursday that, within the framework of this initiative - for which 33 countries have declared their willingness to participate - an operational headquarters for the force, known as the Multinational Force Ukraine (MNF-U), had been established in Paris with a core staff.

“The Maritime Component Command (MCC) function of this force will be carried out by our country in order to preserve security and stability, maintain the principle of regional ownership, and safeguard the balance established by the Montreux Straits Convention,” the ministry said.

“The Maritime Component Command Headquarters was established as of 25 August 2025 with a core staff composed entirely of Turkish personnel.”

A social media post by the ministry, noting a visit by French Major-General Jean-Pierre Fague, commander of the MNF-U operational headquarters, and British Major-General Richard Stewart Charles Bell, the deputy commander, to the MCC in Istanbul’s Beykoz district, caused confusion among some observers.

The post led some to mistakenly believe that a Nato command was being established in Istanbul.

The Montreux Convention places specific restrictions on the entry of non-littoral states’ naval vessels into the Black Sea, particularly during wartime. The confusion over a possible Nato command, therefore, raised concerns among some commentators in Turkey.

The Russian embassy, however, avoided criticising Turkey, saying it appreciated Ankara’s balanced and responsible stance in implementing the convention.

The ministry said the details of the maritime command had been agreed by the Coalition of the Willing countries at a meeting in Ankara in April 2025, where Turkey persuaded its partners to continue leading planning activities in the maritime domain and that the legal framework established by the Montreux Convention should guide the process.

“Fourteen countries have declared their intention to contribute to the Maritime Component Command; however, contributions involving naval platforms will be provided only by the littoral states, namely Turkiye, Romania and Bulgaria,” the ministry said.

The ministry also said that Mine Countermeasures Black Sea is a separate non-Nato initiative established by Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria under Ankara’s leadership. The task force was created under a memorandum signed in January 2024, and its first activation was announced in July 2024.

Its primary mission is to conduct mine-search operations in the Black Sea and contribute to the protection of critical underwater infrastructure.

The task force operates with the participating countries’ national mine-countermeasure vessels, while command and headquarters responsibilities rotate among the three states every six months.