Regulation of the Turkish Straits: UNCLOS as an Alternative to the Treaty of Montreux and the 1994 Maritime Traffic Regulations for the Turkish Straits and Marmara Region

Abstract

This Note discusses the need for a modern international legal regime that would address navigational and environmental safety in the Turkish Straits in a manner consistent with customary international law of the transit passage through the straits used for international navigation. Part I provides an overview of the recent history of the Turkish Straits and the legal regimes regulating navigation in the Turkish Straits and other straits used for international navigation. Part II explores the positions and arguments of the parties involved in the dispute over the legality of the 1994 Turkish Regulations. Part III proposes that the circumstances surrounding this conflict warrant the termination of the Treaty of Montreux and adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea22 ( UNCLOS ) as the binding legal regime of the Turkish Straits. Part III argues that this action will supply contemporary and internationally-accepted rules of transit through the Turkish Straits and will provide an authoritative international tribunal to serve as an independent arbitrator between the parties. This Note concludes that UNCLOS\u27s regime of transit passage through the Turkish Straits should help to decrease the possibility of confrontation in the region and to address Turkey\u27s navigational and environmental safety concerns