Türkiye calls for global initiative to secure maritime chokepoints

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday warned that no country can isolate itself from a fragmented international order, calling for a global initiative to safeguard critical maritime chokepoints amid growing threats to freedom of navigation and international trade flows.

Global security 'indivisible'

Speaking at the TRT World Forum in Istanbul, Fidan said the international community must develop new frameworks for cooperation based on mutual trust and regional ownership. "No country, however powerful, can insulate itself from the consequences of a fragmented and insecure international environment. Security is indivisible," he said.

The minister stressed that sustainable security cannot be built at the expense of others, emphasizing the need for practical arrangements that emerge from regional priorities rather than external imposition. "Your security cannot be sustained at the expense of the security of the others," he added.

Maritime chokepoints under threat

Fidan warned that military confrontation in the Black Sea and growing insecurity around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb pose serious risks to international trade, energy supplies and food security. "The Black Sea has increasingly become an arena of military confrontation," he said, noting that attacks on commercial vessels threaten the movement of essential goods, particularly grain shipments.

He pointed to similar challenges in the Middle East, citing Israel's expansionist policies and continued aggression against neighboring countries alongside what he called the genocide in Gaza. These developments, he said, are undermining regional stability and prospects for a just and lasting peace while exacerbating global vulnerabilities.

New initiative proposed

Highlighting the strategic importance of maritime chokepoints, Fidan said the concentration of global trade along limited routes creates structural vulnerabilities that require collective action. "A shipping lane can become a battlefield, as we've seen in Black Sea. An energy pipeline can be turned into an instrument of political pressure," he said, adding that a single choke point can disrupt economies thousands of kilometers away.

Fidan proposed a practical framework for collective action dedicated to safeguarding these routes, preserving freedom of navigation and diversifying transport corridors. He highlighted Türkiye's Middle Corridor and the Development Road Project linking the Gulf to Europe through Iraq as efforts to strengthen supply chain resilience and reduce excessive dependencies.

Regional ownership emphasized

Fidan cited Türkiye's experience with the Black Sea Grain Initiative as proof that sustained diplomacy can produce tangible results even during armed conflict. He also pointed to emerging cooperation formats including the Mecca Alliance for Defense with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the R4 mechanism comprising Türkiye, Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and the R4-E4 format bringing those countries together with France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.

"These initiatives are not competing with other instruments, nor are they intended to create new divisions," Fidan said. "Their purpose is to expand the space for cooperation, strengthening regional capacity, and connect different centers of responsibility." He added that Türkiye stands ready to contribute to efforts that transform connectivity into an instrument of collective security and shared prosperity.