Turkey Bans Greece-Bound Sailing

Turkey’s transport ministry said on Monday it was banning travel to Greece on yachts, sailboats and ferries after Greek authorities seized 11 vessels among them four yachts headed for Kos and Rhodes, as well as a freighter off the port of Kalamaki for violating maritime regulation.

All Turkish-flagged commercial yachts (starting September 25) and passenger ships (as of October 12) are banned from traveling to Greek destinations, the Turkish transport ministry said in a September 25 statement citing the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MoU) inspections.

“As of today we have stopped the sailing of commercial yachts to Greece. The fact that Greece started to inspect and seize such small commercial vessels, shorter than 24 meters, by claiming they did not comply with the rules, has put at risk Turkey’s status as a ‘white flag’ country. This is unacceptable,” Turkey’s transport minister, Ahmet Arslan, said as reported by Turkish daily Hurriyet.

“We have also warned our correspondents and sent our experts there. If Greece changes this exception, our commercial yachts will travel to Greek islands and contribute to trade. But we will not allow those vessels to sail as long as Greece maintains its attitude regarding this rule,” he said, adding that he would discuss the issue with his Greek counterpart on October 12 while on an official visit to Athens.

In the meantime, companies offering Greek island tours have said they would stop operations as of October 12 while the head of the Bodrum Sailors Association, Mustafa Demiröz, said the issue should be resolved through dialogue.

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