ISTANBUL, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Maintaining stability in the strategic Turkish Straits, which connect the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea, will remain essential for global energy security and trade flows in an increasingly uncertain geopolitical environment, a Türkiye-based scholar has said.
In a recent interview with Xinhua, Baris Doster, an international relations academic at Marmara University, said recent crises have exposed the fragility of global supply chains and underscored the importance of key maritime passages.
"The Turkish Straits are not significant for traffic volume alone, but for connecting Asia and Europe," Doster said.
The Turkish Straits, which comprise the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, are a vital corridor linking Black Sea producers to global markets.
While the Turkish Straits cannot replace the Strait of Hormuz for oil transit, Doster noted that they serve as a major route for Black Sea grain exports and other essential goods, emphasizing that Türkiye exercises full authority over military transit through the Straits, regulating the tonnage, duration of stay, and passage of vessels from non-Black Sea states.
"Maintaining this framework is crucial not only for Türkiye but for the broader stability of the Black Sea region," he added.
He also pointed to a key difference between the two waterways. "Unlike the Strait of Hormuz, the Turkish Straits operate under a clearly-defined international framework that regulates military transit and ensures predictability," he said. "In contrast, no similarly structured system exists in Hormuz, making it more vulnerable to unilateral actions during times of conflict."
Doster added that as tensions around key maritime routes persist, the role of regulated and predictable waterways such as the Turkish Straits is likely to become even more pronounced. He further suggested that clearly defined and consistently applied transit rules will be critical to preventing disruptions and reducing the risk of escalation in strategically sensitive regions.
On Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched joint strikes on Tehran and several other Iranian cities. Iran responded by launching waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and U.S. bases and assets in the Middle East and effectively closing access to the Strait of Hormuz, a key global shipping route through which about one-fifth of the world's oil consumption passes.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), crude and oil product flows through the Strait of Hormuz plunged from around 20 million barrels per day before the conflict to a trickle currently. In response, the IEA's 32 member countries agreed to make 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves available to the market in response to disruptions caused by the conflict. ■
