Turkish international ship registry: Purposes and outcomes

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the Turkish International Ship Registry in the context of its purposes and outcomes. The Turkish International Ship Registry was established to 'prevent the decreasing of the Turkish fleet, to ensure that foreign owners are taxed in Türkiye by operating under the Turkish flag and to provide foreign currency inflow'. The Turkish International Ship Registry is the second registry of Türkiye and was established for similar purposes to other second ship registries. For this reason, international ship registry systems are analysed through the open registry and second registry concepts. The concept of the 'flag of convenience', which led to the emergence of second registries, is also evaluated. After this examination, the ship registries in Türkiye are briefly stated. For the purpose of the thesis, especially the National Ship Registry and the Turkish International Ship Registry, are analysed more comprehensively. In the second part of the thesis, the Turkish International Ship Registry is evaluated within the framework of the national legislation to which it is subject, its establishment purposes and its results. These evaluations have based on the criticism of legal scholars and the determination of the current situation in the context of statistical data. Following the evaluations, recommendations are presented to increase the quality and quantity of ships registered in the Turkish International Ship Registry. Although the Turkish International Ship Registry has the potential to be one of the milestones of the Turkish maritime industry, it has yet to have the expected impact in the current situation. Ensuring uniformity in practice and making the necessary legal arrangements are essential for the Turkish International Ship Registry to fulfil the purposes for which it was estanlished. In addition to these regulations, it is considered that the Turkish International Ship Registry should become a more accessible and more efficient registry in order to compete with other ship registries.