Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria sign deal to clear floating Black Sea mines

• Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria signed an agreement on a joint plan to clear mines floating in the Black Sea as a result of the war in Ukraine, following months of talks between the NATO allies.

• Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler, his Romanian counterpart Angel Tilvar and Bulgaria’s Deputy Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov signed a memorandum of understanding in Istanbul to form a trilateral initiative to clear the explosives.

• Sea mines have posed a threat to Ukraine’s export routes via the Black Sea since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and several commercial ships have been hit, including a bulk carrier heading to the River Danube port to load grain in December. 

• Three minehunting ships from each country and one command control ship, will be assigned to the initiative. Naval commanders of the three countries will form a committee to run the operation.

Facts about Black Sea

• The Black Sea is one of the most isolated inland seas in the world. 

• It is situated between southeastern Europe and Asia Minor and has a surface area of about 436,400 sqkm. 

• The average depth is between 1,240 and 1,315 m, though it reaches a maximum of 2,212 m. 

• From east to west the sea measures 1,175 km, and the widest distance from north to south is over 610 km. 

• The total length of the coastline is about 4,020-4,340 km.

• Six countries border the Black Sea: Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine.

• At the northeastern corner, the Black Sea is connected to the Sea of Azov by Kerch Strait.

• In the southwest, the Black Sea is connected to the Sea of Marmara (and thus the Canakkale Strait, otherwise known as Dardanelles Strait, and the Mediterranean) by the Istanbul Strait, also known as Bosphorus Strait.

• The Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait are surrounded by Ukraine and Russia. The Sea of Marmara, Istanbul Strait and Canakkale Strait represent the inland waters of Turkey known as the Turkish Straits System. 

• The Black Sea is considered anoxic at its deeper levels, which means it gets no oxygen below the surface layer. About 90 per cent of the lower Black Sea contains no oxygen, making it impossible for life to exist below 200 meters.

• It is the world’s largest meromictic basin. This means that the upper layer of water and lower layer of water do not intermix.

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