President Erdogan Calls Turkey Warns Russia After Ship Attacks On The Black Sea

Sukru Okan cargo ship. (MarineTraffic.com/Sergey Krivenko)

JAKARTA - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday it had warned Russia of an attack on Turkish cargo ships last weekend to avoid further escalation after the incident.

"After the intervention, our colleagues in the Russian Federation have been properly warned to avoid such attempts, which are increasing tensions in the Black Sea," the Turkish presidency said, as reported by The National News, August 18.

Sukru Okan's ship raised the Palau flag when it was fired upon by the Russian navy last Sunday.

Russian military personnel then boarded the ship for inspection, before letting it sail to Izmail port in Ukraine - the main export route for Kyiv agricultural products.

The incident comes amid a spike in attacks in the Black Sea region, after Russia decided to withdraw from an important Black Sea seed deal with Ukraine last month.

Turkey helped mediate this UN-backed deal, using its good relations with Moscow and Kyiv to reach the only major deal both sides reached during the war.

However, President Erdogan's office was previously criticized at home for saying nothing about Russia's attack on Turkish ships at the time.

His office responded to criticism on Thursday, saying it was technically up to Palau to deal with the incident.

"Although the owner of the Sukru Okan ship is Turkish, the ship does not have a Turkish flag," explained the presidential office.

"In international law,'state flags' are more important than the name of the ship or the private owner," the office continued.

It is known, Palau is an island nation in the Pacific whose flag is often used by shipping companies, to freely access international ports.