The two gateways between the Black Sea and Mediterranean, the Dardanelles and Bosphorus, were very important as a trade route from the Black Sea into ports all over the world for Turkey and its other Black Sea neighbors: the USSR, Romania and Bulgaria, all three of which were militarily aligned.[3] The straits also served as an important component of military strategy; whoever wielded control of traffic through the straits could use them as an exit or entry point for naval forces to traverse to and from the Black Sea.