Turkey is the party upset with the attacks on tankers in the black sea by Ukraine this week
It gets into the tricky logic of jurisdiction, geopolitical pretense and whatnot
Ukraine openly attacked commercial- non-military- boats flagged by Gambia, operating as part of Russia's sanction evading shadow fleet, while inside Turkey's waters, with a crew of Chinese, Indian, Bangladeshi, Myanmarese and Indonesians. There's an echo of WW1 diplomatic entanglements. Ukraine has effectively attacked Russia, Gambia, Turkiye, China, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar & Indonesia all at the same time. The risk of sea drones for diplomacies sake is that they need to narrowly thread the amount of ordnance necessary to disable a ship, without risking killing the crew or sinking it. Ukraine killing Indian nationals in Turkish waters would be a serious dustup. And just launching an attack in Turkish waters draws Erdogan's ire.
So with the attacks not actually killing anyone or sinking boats, all the other countries including the flag-registration-only Gambia get to avoid having to respond. But Turkey still cares;
Quote
Foreign Ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli said the attacks on the Kairos and Virat vessels happened inside Turkiye’s exclusive economic zone and “have posed serious risks to navigation, life, property and environmental safety in the region.”
In a social media post late Saturday, Keceli added that Turkiye is carrying out talks with “the relevant parties” to prevent the spread of the war in Ukraine across the Black Sea and to protect Turkiye’s economic interests.