The Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits was convened in 1936, with the nations of Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, the Soviet Union, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Yugoslavia attending, to determine the handling of the Turkish straits both in military and regulatory ways.[5] It was the latest of several negotiations regarding the two waterways. Previous treaties and conferences had materialized over the spans of the 19th and 20th centuries. The issue had been revived again with the rise of Fascist Italy and its expansionist policies as well as a fear that Bulgaria would take it upon itself to rearm the straits.[6] Upon the treaty's signing, on July 20, 1936, Turkey was permitted to rearm and regulate the straits.