| The Bosphorus Strait: A Critical Location |
 The Bosphorus Strait connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara (which is then connected by the Dardanelles to the Aegean, and then to the Mediterranean). The Bosphorus has always been of great commercial and strategic importance, and was a factor in the establishment of the city of Constantinople here in A.D. 330.Navigation through the strait can be extremely difficult due to its narrow width, currents, and the immense size of some of the tankers and cruise ships that ply its waters. The strait connects waters of varying salinity, creating powerful currents. Prevailing winds from the north increase the strength of the surface current (which runs from north to south), while another current near the bottom of the strait flows in the opposite direction. In 1936, Turkey signed the Montreux Convention, which regulates boat traffic through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. In case of war, Turkey has the right to close this critically located strait to any vessel; even during times of peace, military vessels must inform authorities long in advance of their passage. When the Montreux Convention was signed, ships were smaller and weren't required to use a local pilot to negotiate the dangerous strait (which is legally required today). This oversight proved disastrous. The Bosphorus is flanked by the heavily populated city of Istanbul, magnifying the consequences of any shipboard accidents. As shipping traffic increased in size and volume, boats collided in fiery explosions, tankers leaked thousands of gallons of crude oil into the fragile waters, and more than one disabled ship ran aground—smacking right into waterfront houses. In the words of an Istanbul resident: "I heard an unusual sound getting louder and louder, and all of a sudden, I saw the stern of the ship going right into the room!" Nowadays there are stricter controls on boat traffic, managed by a new radar network—watch for the radar towers along the Bosphorus. In addition, oil pipelines from the eastern Black Sea, the Caucasus region, and the Caspian Sea are providing an alternative to transporting oil, which is helping to alleviate the bottleneck of tanker traffic through the strait. (s3) |