Turkey allows U.S. ships to take aid to Georgia

Thu Aug 21, 2008 5:02am EDT

ANKARA Aug 21 (Reuters) - NATO-member Turkey has authorised three U.S. ships to sail through the Turkish straits into the Black Sea to carry humanitarian aid to Georgia, U.S. and Turkish officials said on Thursday.

The two Navy ships and a U.S. Coast Guard cutter carrying blankets, hygiene kits, baby food and infant care supplies are expected to arrive in war-damaged Georgia in one week, a U.S. diplomat based in Ankara said.

The Caucasus state has been the scene of violent clashes between Russian and Georgian forces after moves by Tbilisi to re-establish control over its breakaway province of South Ossetia and thousands of people have been uprooted.

Turkey governs international traffic through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits under the 1936 Montreux Convention, which sets weight limits on ships belonging to countries that do not have a border with the Black Sea.

Turkey, which has close ties with neighbouring Georgia and is a key strategic ally of Washington, has been walking a delicate diplomatic line during the Caucasus conflict in order not to antagonise Russia. (Reporting by Zerin Elci; Editing by Richard Balmforth)




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