Maritime safety in Turkey

Abstract

As maritime transportation is inherently international in character, it is fair to say that safety at sea should be taken into account internationally as well. Given that Turkey, being bathed by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean Sea to the west and the Black Sea to the north, is situated in a location where maritime traffic is highly dense, maritime safety is crucially important not only for the country itself but also for the littoral states of these seas. In this chapter, therefore, maritime safety in Turkey is subjected to close scrutiny as follows: section 2 is a brief overview of the national institutions in Turkey that are in charge of the implementation of maritime safety law; section 3 outlines the maritime safety law applicable in Turkey, including the implementation of international maritime conventions and other legal instruments related to maritime safety into national law, and whether they are combined within a single act. While section 4 deals with the prevention, control and surveillance elements in the context of maritime safety, section 5 covers whether Turkey is a party to any liability convention related to financial security instruments. Finally, section 6 involves a general assessment by drawing a number of conclusions on the status quo and future of maritime safety in Turkey. © 2021 selection and editorial matter, Justyna Nawrot and Zuzanna Pep?owska-D?browska; individual chapters, the contributors.