We have a homeland shaped like a peninsula, washed by seas on three sides, extending in an east-west axis between the Balkans, the Black Sea, the Caucasus, Iran, Mesopotamia, and the Middle East. We also have a Blue Homeland that encompasses more than half of this area. However, our state, the owner of both homelands, has not been able to become a maritime nation even in the 21st century. If our great savior Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had not emerged on the historical stage at the end of World War I, we would not have either of our homelands.
Atatürk saw the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which had distanced itself from the sea, preferred to be without a navy, and completely left the maritime industry in the hands of foreigners and minorities, as inevitable. The new state he established had to reconnect with the seas. Turkey, with its state and people, had to become a maritime nation. Above all, it had to rid itself of capitulations, as they brought economic ruin and hindered maritime development.
WHAT IS CABOTAGE?
The Committee of Union and Progress attempted this in 1914 but failed, as the infrastructure was not ready. One of Atatürk's most important directives to the delegation going to the Lausanne negotiations was to withdraw from the conference if they insisted on capitulations. Indeed, the first round of negotiations was interrupted for this reason. As a result, a great political victory was achieved on July 24, 1923. However, the infrastructure had to be ready for the implementation of the cabotage right, which was the most significant practice of capitulations. Therefore, it had to wait until July 1, 1926.
Cabotage means that all maritime activities conducted by a sovereign state in its coasts, territorial waters, lakes, and rivers are carried out exclusively by that state. The cabotage right is Atatürk's most emphatic slap to capitulations. Atatürk was a unique Turkish statesman who best understood that maritime activity is the key to freedom, independence, industrialization, and wealth. With the Cabotage Law No. 815, accepted on April 11, 1926, and enacted on July 1, 1926, foreign dominance over Turkish maritime activities was abruptly cut off, thus opening the door for the Turkish people, who had been distanced from the sea for centuries, to return to their seas through the cabotage law.
ATATÜRK'S CONSCIOUS CHOICE
Atatürk crowned this most significant achievement of the Lausanne victory by declaring July 1, 1926, as Maritime and Cabotage Day. He returned to Istanbul on July 1, 1927, exactly eight years after he left Istanbul to ignite the fire of liberation in Anatolia. Although he could have gone directly to Haydarpaşa Station by train, he chose to enter Istanbul by sea, boarding the Ertuğrul Yacht from İzmit due to the maritime holiday. This important historical moment was celebrated with Maritime Day.
Atatürk's initiatives for maritime development occurred in areas such as the navy, maritime industry, maritime culture, and maritime sports at a scale and scope that no statesman has foreseen or executed to this day. Unfortunately, this momentum entered a serious stagnation after 1938. It came to a standstill with the onset of the Atlantic era in 1946. Without the leadership and guidance of the Naval Forces, even in the industrial and cultural fields, a regression was being experienced in the geopolitical arena.
STEP BY STEP, WE DISTANCED OURSELVES
Over the years, Turkey gradually distanced itself from the sea. It is a sad reality that coastal cities distanced themselves from maritime culture and activities first. The Black Sea region, home to the most maritime people of Anatolia, absurdly approved double roads that destroy nature and separate the people from the sea. The most beautiful shores were covered with concrete.
In many coastal settlements, traditional fish restaurants and fish sandwich vendors were replaced by kebab shops and mobile wrap vendors. Sailing, swimming, and rowing clubs were replaced by football clubs. The majority of those living on the coast began to dream not of their children becoming national sailors or swimmers, but of them becoming wealthy football players.
However, the most significant regression occurred with the distancing from maritime transportation.
During Atatürk's time, the share of maritime transportation, that is, cabotage transportation, in our economy's domestic transportation reached up to 68%, but it has decreased every year and today stands at around 4%. In other words, the cabotage shipping we celebrate today has, over time, succumbed to land transportation, the greatest enemy of nature created by industrial civilization and wild capitalism.
CONSCIOUS LAND PROPAGANDA
The railway shared the same fate. Turkey witnessed statesmen like Turgut Özal, who said, "railways are a communist affair." Bus stations replaced ports, and buses and trucks took the place of postal ships and lighters in the Black Sea, Aegean, and Mediterranean. Today, while 86% of Turkey's foreign trade is conducted by sea (of which only 17% is done with Turkish ships), only 4% of its domestic trade is conducted by sea.
The problem lies in combining the unique characteristics of the Anatolian geography with infrastructure and appropriate initiatives to offer various transportation options for our economy and surrounding economies. Transportation is indispensable for the economy. Reducing transportation costs to a minimum is an important goal. In this context, maritime transportation is three times cheaper than rail, seven times cheaper than road, and twenty-one times cheaper than air.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE IS CLEAR
Therefore, a country like Turkey—surrounded by seas on five sides when considering the densely populated Marmara Region—if it is dependent on foreign energy, meaning it imports oil for transportation, then the state’s transportation policy should focus on the cheapest transportation modes: maritime and rail.
Road transportation should only be used as a supportive environment. I won't even mention air transport. However, in the last 19 years in our country, unnecessary large investments have been made in air transport, for which we are completely dependent on foreign sources, both in aircraft and fuel.
UNSUSTAINABLE
Road transportation, which accounts for 90% of domestic freight transport, is not sustainable for a state that imports 100% of its oil. A significant portion of the annual energy bill, which amounts to 60 billion dollars, is used for road transport. Maritime transport is seven times cheaper than road transport. Therefore, if maritime and integrated rail transport were used in domestic transport, this bill could be significantly reduced. Of course, the share of rail transport should also be increased above 5%.
Our geography and complete dependence on oil highlight the need for maritime and integrated rail transport in domestic transportation. Our transportation policy should be a function of our geography and the sea. Thus, the share of road transport in domestic transportation, which is currently 90%, can be reduced to the EU norm of around 40%, and our oil bill can be brought down below 60 billion dollars. If the necessary investments are made in railways along the 8,333 km coastline with 175 ports scattered across it, Turkey has the potential to produce the most suitable solutions.
CABOTAGE IS SOVEREIGNTY, SOVEREIGNTY CANNOT BE DILUTED
On the other hand, after 2002, our cabotage rights were diluted, especially with the privatization of ports involving foreign partnerships. A significant number of personnel on seismic, drilling, and LNG gasification and storage vessels owned by TPAO, MTA, and BOTAŞ are foreign, in violation of the cabotage law. In industrial projects at ports and at sea, exceptions are granted by relaxing our cabotage rights for foreigners. The cabotage right is a right of sovereignty. It cannot be diluted. Exceptions cannot be made.
Additionally, on November 22, 2020, the German Navy conducted a state piracy operation against the Turkish-flagged, Turkish-crewed container ship Roseline A, owned by Arkas Holding, under the EU Operation Irini, boarding and searching the ship in the southwestern Peloponnese. This scandal marked a first in the history of the Turkish merchant fleet, as it was carried out without the approval of the flag state, Turkey. If a political and legal response has been made to this piracy by the German state, the public should be informed by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Germany's illegality should not go unpunished.
Let us hope that the maritime trade world’s NGOs and professional organizations will follow up on this issue and cabotage violations.
As we witness those who place their enrichment and personal interests above the sovereign rights of the state and the security and welfare of future generations, we remember with appreciation and gratitude the merchants and sailors who honored cabotage above personal interests during Atatürk's time. We miss those golden generations dearly. Happy July 1 Maritime and Cabotage Day.
CEM GÜRDENİZ RETIRED ADMIRAL, AUTHOR
(On the 6th anniversary of our farewell to Admiral Cem Aziz Çakmak, who was caught in the greatest collective betrayal scheme in Turkish history during the Balyoz trial process due to an incurable illness; I commemorate him with appreciation, gratitude, loyalty, and endless longing for what he did for the republic, the navy, and our future. May he rest in light in the ocean of eternity.)
Source: www.denizhaber.com