Turkey and Greece clash over 'Turkish Straits' term at UN Security Council

Greece objected to Turkey’s use of the expression “Turkish Straits” during a United Nations Security Council session, arguing that the term conflicts with the 1936 Montreux Convention, which refers to the waterways simply as “Straits”. The Greek delegation, represented by Ioannis Stamatikos, urged respect for the convention’s terminology.

Turkey responded on 8 May 2026 with a letter from its UN permanent representative Ahmet Yıldız, rejecting Greece’s claim as “political” and defending the expression as a long‑standing geographic name. Yıldız cited its inclusion in NATO, IMO and other international documents and asserted that the term is consistent with the Montreux Convention, which regulates navigation but does not standardise geographic names. He emphasized Turkish sovereignty over the Istanbul and Dardanelles waterways and called on all UN member states to respect the established usage.