Spill Notification Point

Competent National Authority

Response Arrangements

Pollution response in Turkey is determined by Act 5312 (Law Concerning the Principles of Emergency Response and Compensation for Damages for Pollution of the Marine Environment by Oil and Other Harmful Substances). The Undersecretariat for Maritime Affairs has ultimate responsibility for dealing with oil pollution at sea and the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation undertakes or causes to be undertaken the necessary response measures.  In the event of an incident, a Damage Commission of these authorities is usually convened and chaired by the Provincial Head of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation.

At local level, a governor or mayor may direct the Damage Commission. Local responsibility is designated to managers of individual ports or, in the case of spills at sea, to the Turkish Navy. Oil on shore would normally be dealt with by the municipalities or installation concerned.

Turkey has regional and national emergency response plans based on a tiered response structure. 

Under the Turkish Environmental Code no. 1983, significant fines are imposed on vessels that violate Turkish anti-pollution regulations. Fines are imposed in accordance with a published tariff, which is revised annually. In the event of sea pollution, fines are issues by the Turkish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), harbour master and public prosecutor.

Response Policy

Containment and recovery of oil is the preferred response strategy. Authorisation by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation is required prior to the use of disperstants.

Equipment

Government & Private

There is some government-owned equipment in the country. This is mainly operated by Coastal Safety and Ship Salvage Administration, a government-run salvage company located in Istanbul. The municipal authorities operate fleets of vacuum trucks. There are significant private resources dedicated to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, managed by BP, which transports crude oil from offshore oil fields in the Caspian Sea to the Turkish coast of the Mediterranean. Equipment, resources and personnel are stationed at locations along the pipeline. There are a number of private clean-up contractors and salvage companies in Turkey with vessels and equipment for oil and chemical spill response. 

Previous Spill Experience

Turkey has suffered a number of medium to large tanker spills: INDEPENDENTA (1979); FAHIRE GUNERI (1984); JAMBUR (1990) & NASSIA (1994). The majority of clean-up was undertaken using vacuum trucks and manual methods. In 1999 the tanker VOLGONEFT 248 broke up in the Sea of Marmara, spilling about 1,500 tonnes of Heavy Fuel Oil.  Most of the oil came ashore, and was cleaned up manually, but some sank in shallow water which caused repeated re-contamination of cleaned shorelines. Divers were used to manually collect oil-contaminated sand in water depths of 1-15 metres. More recently, Turkey has suffered a number of bunker spills from non-tank vessels, particularly in the Bosphorus & Dardanelles.

Compensation

* not yet in force

Regional & Bilateral Agreements

• Barcelona Convention (with states bordering the Mediterranean).
• Bucharest Convention (with countries bordering the Black Sea).

For further information see REMPEC (Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea) Country Profile (http://www.rempec.org/country.asp?cid=21&IDS=2_1&daNme=General%20Information&openNum=1)

Date of issue: August 2018