Cabotage and the Blue Homeland

The backbone of the Blue Homeland is cabotage.

The Cabotage Law, the 100th anniversary of which we are celebrating, is the Republic's strongest assertion of sovereignty against the capitulations that were rotting the Ottoman Empire from within. It marks the beginning of the Turkish maritime movement and serves as the legal and strategic foundation of independent maritime activity. Having gained its political and economic independence with the Treaty of Lausanne, Turkey effectively established its sovereignty at sea through the Cabotage Law, regaining the right to have a say in its own coastal and inland waters. Therefore, cabotage is not merely a transport regulation; it is the Republic's declaration of independence at sea.

LIBERATION FROM THE SCOURGE OF CAPITULATIONS

One of the primary reasons for the Ottoman Empire's decline in maritime affairs was the capitulations granted to foreigners. A vast area—ranging from ports to the merchant fleet, from shipyards to maritime trade, from shipping agencies to insurance, and even to maritime commercial law—was gradually left under the control of foreigners and minorities. Maritime activity is a field that requires significant capital, technology, and state support. When the state withdrew from these areas, foreigners filled the void. Consequently, the Ottoman Empire lost not only its maritime trade but also its maritime culture. A state that loses its sovereignty at sea is destined to lose its economic independence to a great extent as well.

The Treaty of Lausanne established Turkey's political and economic independence by abolishing the capitulations. The Cabotage Law, in turn, brought this independence to life at sea; by reserving the transport of cargo and passengers along Turkish coasts, as well as other commercial maritime activities, for the Turkish flag and Turkish citizens, it extended national sovereignty to the seas. The uncompromising stance Mustafa Kemal Atatürk displayed regarding capitulations at Lausanne is the clearest indication that maritime activity was viewed as an inseparable part of economic independence. In this respect, the Cabotage Law is one of the greatest victories of the War of Independence on the front of maritime and maritime economy.

THE NATIONALIZATION OF MARITIME ACTIVITY

In the early years of the Republic, the state knew that the cabotage regime could not be protected merely by passing a law. Therefore, great importance was given to ports, the Administration of Navigation (Seyr-i Sefain İdaresi), the national merchant fleet, and maritime transport. Despite limited resources, Turkish sailors who set out to sea in aging ships waged a second War of Independence at sea to keep the right of cabotage alive. Many ships sank in the harsh conditions of the Black Sea, and many sailors were martyred; however, Turkey did not take a step back, determined not to need foreign ships in its own waters again.

Atatürk viewed maritime activity not just as a matter of transport, but as an ideal of civilization, development, and independence. His words in the opening speech of the Turkish Grand National Assembly on November 1, 1937, "We must consider maritime activity as the great national ideal of the Turk and achieve it in a short time," are the most powerful expression of this vision. However, this vision could not be sustained in later periods. Maritime activity could not be turned into a holistic state policy. The state failed to become maritime-oriented, and when the state failed to do so, the nation could not become maritime-oriented either. Yet, history shows that no nation becomes maritime-oriented on its own; it is the state that makes the people maritime-oriented, encourages them in this direction, and invests in it.

MAKING THE PUBLIC MARITIME-ORIENTED

Becoming maritime-oriented is not just about growing the merchant fleet or building new ports. It is about bringing the nation together with the sea. This is one of our greatest shortcomings in the second century of the Republic. About one hundred and thirty years ago, in 1895 Istanbul, there were 35 thousand rowboats for a population of 900 thousand; in other words, there was one rowboat for every 25 people. Today, in a Turkey of approximately 86 million, while there is one car for every seven people, there is one amateur maritime vessel for approximately every six hundred people. A large part of our coasts has been concreted over, free public piers and small boat mooring areas have disappeared, and marinas have reached price levels inaccessible to middle-income citizens. A love for the sea begins in childhood. A maritime nation cannot emerge from a society that cannot access the sea, cannot learn to swim, cannot own a rowboat, and cannot be introduced to sailing and rowing. The Blue Homeland is strengthened not only by warships but also by the organic bond that millions of citizens form with the sea. Maritime activity begins in childhood. Therefore, our education system must be reshaped from primary school onwards based on a love for the sea. Every Turkish child should learn to swim, get to know the sea, and be introduced to sailing and rowing sports. Maritime schools, meanwhile, should not train students based solely on exam scores, but should cultivate young people who are truly passionate about maritime activity and have chosen this profession as a way of life. For this reason, amateur maritime activity should not be a hobby, but an indispensable element of a grand maritime strategy that extends from national security to maritime culture, and from the blue economy to the maritime industry.

CABOTAGE ERODED IN ITS 100TH YEAR

Today, the protective spirit of the Cabotage Law is being eroded by various practices. The privatization of ports, increasing foreign financial control in strategic ports, the removal of towage services from state monopoly, the employment of foreign personnel under the Turkish International Ship Registry (TUGS), and the use of foreign personnel in oil, drilling, seismic research, and FSRU fleets are among the developments that weaken the cabotage regime. Although the law remains in force, the exceptions and economic preferences that emerge in practice are gradually eroding the national character of cabotage.

Moreover, this situation is not unique to Turkey. Even the United States, which is presented as the world's most liberal economy, protects its cabotage rights in the strictest manner with the Jones Act of 1920. It is a requirement that ships carrying cargo between American ports be American-flagged, American-built, and American-crewed. While a state that continues to be the world's maritime power protects its own cabotage so strictly, Turkey's reduction of its sensitivity in this area should be evaluated carefully from a strategic perspective.

THE PROBLEM OF INVESTMENT IN THE SEA

Cabotage and the Blue Economy are two inseparable concepts. Both are protected not by speeches, but by long-term state policies, investments, and planning. Indeed, while approximately 300 billion dollars were invested in the transport and communications sector between 2002 and 2025, approximately 60% of this was allocated to highways, 22% to railways, and 8% to airways; the share of maritime activity remained at only 1%. A peninsula country surrounded by five seas, including the Marmara, has allocated only one percent of its transport investments to the sea. This picture is inconsistent with the claim of being a maritime state.

NO SEA IN DOMESTIC TRANSPORT

Today, approximately 89% of domestic cargo transport, i.e., cabotage cargo, and 91% of passenger transport are carried out by road. The share of maritime transport in domestic cargo transport is only 4%, and its share in passenger transport is approximately 2%. Yet, the cities of the same country have geographical advantages that could connect them to each other by sea along thousands of kilometers of coastline. This picture shows that Turkey is not sufficiently utilizing its maritime transport potential.

NO TURKISH FLAG IN EXTERNAL TRANSPORT

Conversely, although approximately 90% of our foreign trade cargo is transported by sea, only about 8% of this cargo is carried by Turkish-flagged ships. Although the Turkish merchant fleet has exceeded 50 million DWT capacity, approximately 95% of the ships carry foreign flags of convenience. As a result, while our maritime trade is growing, a significant portion of the freight revenue generated from this goes to the economies of foreign countries. A country that cannot bring the value-added provided by maritime transport into its own economy will also have an incomplete blue economy. On the other hand, Turkey's total of 186 ports have shown significant development over the last twenty years. The amount of transit cargo, which was approximately 6 million tons in 2002, reached 69.1 million tons in 2024, and transit cargo accounted for 13% of the total 531.7 million tons of cargo handled in our ports. Ro-Ro transport has also increased significantly. These are achievements that should not be underestimated. However, growing ports does not mean becoming a maritime state on its own. If we cannot carry these loads with our own merchant fleet, cannot bring the value-added generated from maritime trade into our national economy, and cannot effectively use maritime transport in domestic transport, the economic leg of the Blue Homeland remains incomplete.

These tables are not a planning error, but one of the most concrete indicators of the "maritime blindness" that Turkey has maintained for decades. Maritime activity is a strategic power field that encompasses transport, energy, industry, foreign trade, fishing, port management, shipbuilding, maritime tourism, and national defense together. These areas cannot be thought of independently of each other. The strength of the navy and the size of the merchant fleet, the capacity of the ports and the production power of the shipyards, maritime law and the blue economy are all parts of the same strategic whole. The Denizcilik Bankası Deniz Nakliyatı T.A.Ş., one of the greatest symbols of the Republic in the field of maritime activity, should take its place in the oceans and seas just like Turkish Airlines, which has been made into a global brand. This institution should be the locomotive of the economic leg of the Blue Homeland, and the honor and prestige of the Turkish nation at sea. It should make the Turkish flag wave proudly in all the seas of the world once again.

Turkey should make it a national goal to transport its import and export cargo with Turkish-flagged ships at the highest possible rate. The way to do this is not to punish the shipowner, but to make the Turkish flag attractive again. Today, many Turkish shipowners are turning to foreign flags of convenience due to tax and cost reasons. Instead of calculating short-term taxes, the state should implement policies that will ensure that the billions of dollars in freight revenue paid to foreign countries every year remain in Turkey. Every shipowner who wants to carry the Turkish flag on their stern with honor should be provided with at least the financial and administrative facilities that Greece provides to its own shipowners. The real gain is not to collect a few points more in taxes, but to keep the freight revenue in the Turkish economy.

TURKEY HAS 750 PASSENGER PLANES BUT NOT 1 PASSENGER SHIP

The share of air transport in domestic passenger transport was 7.2 percent in 2024. 25 billion dollars have been invested in this expensive sector, in which we are completely dependent on the outside in every aspect, over the last 24 years. The number of airports was increased from 26 to 58 (only 7 of which made a profit), terminal passenger capacity from 55 million to 347 million, and international flight destinations from 60 to 355. The number of wide-body aircraft such as Boeing (USA) and Airbus (France), whose supply is completely dependent on the outside, was also increased from 150 to 750.

Turkish Airlines, whose millions of dollars in advertisements paid for with our taxes we see every day on television and in the world's most exclusive magazines and newspapers, continued to order passenger planes with billions of dollars in projects from both countries with state firm credit. Turkey, which is completely dependent on the outside for fuel and imports 24 million tons of petroleum products per year, developed its aviation fleet by borrowing. Our country, which invested in highways in an unbalanced and unconscious way 50 years ago, invested in aviation far beyond the needs of its people in the 21st century. At sea, however, neither the state nor the private sector has a passenger ship. We have shipyard facilities. We are in the top league of the world in furniture, but an invisible hand does not let Turkey build passenger ships. Maritime transport should not be seen only as cargo transport. Thanks to national maritime transport companies to be established in partnership with the state and the private sector, cities should be reconnected to each other by sea in the Marmara, the Black Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean. Today, the state cannot provide its citizens access to any of its ports from Hopa to İskenderun with a passenger ship. Maritime passenger transport between cities, regions, and seas, which will be integrated with the railway, will both reduce traffic load and strengthen the citizen's right to safe, economic, and modern transport.

CONCLUSION

In the 100th year of the entry into force of the Cabotage Law, we now see much better that sovereignty at sea is not just a right defended in times of war, but a will that must be re-declared every day in times of peace, not with rhetoric but with action. The Blue Homeland becomes permanent only with Turkish-flagged merchant ships, strong ports, world-scale shipyards, developed fishing, maritime transport, marine sciences, maritime sports, and a nation that has transformed maritime culture into a way of life. The true foundation of a strong navy is this maritime nation.

The task before us in the second century of the Republic is to raise maritime activity to the level of a great national ideal, as pointed out by the Immortal Commander-in-Chief Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Turkey has all the possibilities to become a truly maritime state with its geography surrounded by the Blue Homeland, its geopolitical position, its young population, and its production capability. What is needed is not just more ships, larger ports, or new investments, but a strong will that will make becoming maritime-oriented a national development strategy that covers all state institutions, from education to industry, from trade to culture.

Because cabotage is not just a transport regulation, but the name of economic independence, national sovereignty, and the right to self-determination at sea. And the Blue Homeland is not just a geopolitical value to be defended, but a great national heritage to be produced, enriched, and left stronger to future generations. As we enter the second century of the Cabotage Law, our greatest wish is for Turkey to regain its identity as a true maritime state that grows with the seas, draws strength from the seas, and has a say in the seas on a world scale. If the state becomes maritime-oriented, the people will also become maritime-oriented.

With this belief and determination, I proudly celebrate the 100th anniversary of the entry into force of the Cabotage Law, which is our Republic's manifesto of independence at sea, and I commemorate with respect, mercy, and gratitude all the sailors who have contributed to Turkish maritime activity, especially Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his comrades-in-arms who gifted this great work to the Turkish nation. To many more centuries in the Blue Homeland and beyond...