Turkey to deny port access to ships which have visited Crimea
The Turkish authorities are intensifying the measures to identify ships which have entered Crimean ports.
This follows from a letter sent by the leadership of the Turkish Chamber of Shipping to all maritime transport and port business entities. A copy of the letter was published by BlackSeaNews.
The document, which is titled “Principles of shipping in the regions of the Black Sea and the Crimea”, refers to the necessity of “taking steps in consideration of our country’s [Turkey’s] foreign policy related to the restrictions placed on ships’ visitation of Crimean ports”.
The Turkish ports, marine agents, operators and ship owners are officially informed that “ships which have arrived from the Crimea and its ports will not be allowed into our country, and authorization to depart from the ports of this region will not be given”.
In addition, a strict control system will be implemented.
“Control will be ensured by asking ships for documents of departure from the last port, as well as the logbook records of departure from the last port… control will also take place using all available systems and open resources (AIS etc.) to verify that the ships have arrived from the mentioned ports,” the letter reads.
Monitoring must be done by those in charge of all Turkish ports.