Turkey Blue Card 2024

[HayMarSvc]

Have just completed a charter out of Orhaniye Turkey visiting the Datcha peninsula and harbours. We had to follow the Blue Card process on return to Marti Marina. However I was marched off to the Marina office to pay TL1000 for some documentation. On return to the boat my crew informed me that no pump outs had occurred as the pump was not working! The charter company suggested I should have dropped the tanks at sea.

I am aware many pump out stations seem to be not working in this area. I am now unsure what I’ve paid TL 1000 for and quite how this regime is supposed to work as the paperwork doesn’t support any action to minimise pollution?

Does anyone know?

 

[Irish Rover]

First of all I don't know anything about the procedure for charter boats. For private boats there's no longer an actual "Blue Card". The system is totally digital and each boat is assigned a unique reference number which you give to the pump-out operator and your pump out record is recorded centrally. In my 20+ years of boat ownership here in Türkiye I've been stopped by the coast guard umpteen times and never once asked about pump-out. Nonetheless, I do get it done once or twice every year, just in case. I think I paid around 250TL last time.

 

[E39mad]

We had a bit of a nightmare with our Bav 51 holding tanks in Turkey this year as there were one for each head (3 in total) and one had not been emptied so was full after day 2. Had to go into Fethiye Marina to get it pumped out and then pumped them all again at the end of week in Gocek.

It's called a blue card but wasn't that at all in our case. Just a piece paper that we had to give to the operators to log the boats info.

 

[Irish Rover]

The digital recording is only a relatively recent introduction. I had an actual Blue Card on my previous boat which I sold earlier in the year. I've no idea when I last used it. I only became aware of the new system when I applied for a transit log for my current boat in May. The reality is most boats are regularly emptying their tanks when they're well off shore, and probably some closer. The rules are a nonsense, because it's also forbidden to discharge grey water, and very few boats have grey tanks.

 

[HayMarSvc]

Appreciate the advice. I realised it was a digital system. I wanted to understand why I had been charged at Marti Marina and provided with a declaration document yet no pump out took place. Clearly a tick-box exercise with no material benefit to pollution control!

 

[Norman_E]

I had both black and grey tanks on my boat and had them all pumped out at least once a year, but of course I also discharged both when well out to sea. The blue card scheme was never well implemented in some ports, though in Gocek and Ohaniye there were pump out boats that would come to you on 24 hours notice, and Gocek has a pump out station with a small jetty at the western end of the bay. Over my time in Turkey the bureaucracy seemed to get steadily worse and I am now happy I don't have to contend with it. Government paranoia there is such that foreigners who are non-resident were banned from having a Turkish mobile number or internet dongle a few years ago. I got around that with the help of a Turkish friend registering my phone and a dongle in his name but after selling the boat in 2020 I let them lapse, and could not have either when I went back last year.

When I sailed my old boat for the last time last year Marti would not even sell me diesel, let alone give me a pump out.

 

[Irish Rover]

Appreciate the advice. I realised it was a digital system. I wanted to understand why I had been charged at Marti Marina and provided with a declaration document yet no pump out took place. Clearly a tick-box exercise with no material benefit to pollution control!

Clearly your short stay in Türkiye gave you a good insight into how bureaucracy works here.

 

[Irish Rover]

Over my time in Turkey the bureaucracy seemed to get steadily worse

I've been permanently resident in Türkiye for well over 20 years, and there's no doubt, negotiating the bureaucracy can be trying. Has it got worse in that time? My experience is definitely not, and in fact I'd say the opposite. There are also areas where Türkiye is streets ahead of Ireland or the UK such as conveyancing and health service which I referenced on another thread today. A lot of the nonsense stuff here, such as the Blue Card system, was introduced into legislation to support Türkiye's efforts to persuade the EU it is a worthy membership candidate. So the strategy was put it in the statute book, get the brownie points, and then everyone except an occasional jack-in-office forgets about it - unless, of course you find a way to make a few bob out of it, like having a pump out facility.

Government paranoia there is such that foreigners who are non-resident were banned from having a Turkish mobile number or internet dongle a few years ago. I got around that with the help of a Turkish friend registering my phone and a dongle in his name

Nothing to do with paranoia really. It was the same in many countries, including Ireland. It was an anti crime, anti terrorism measure. You need a Turkish ID number and/or permanent address to get a mobile connection. I'm pretty sure a 12 month marina contract would have been acceptable, as it is in lieu of a title deed or rental contract when applying for residency.

 

[Norman_E]

At one time a marina contract was enough to get you a foreigners card that exempted you having to buy visas and provided other benefits. There was no restriction on getting a Turkish phone or an internet dongle. I had and still have a Turkish tax number but rule changes made it impossible for me to retain the foreigners residency card as a marina contract is not now accepted for the purpose. (unless rules have changed again since I sold the boat). I think it was about 2019 when my wife and I received texts on our phones telling us that by Government decree our Turkish SIMs would no longer work, and they didn't.

 

[Irish Rover]

At one time a marina contract was enough to get you a foreigners card that exempted you having to buy visas and provided other benefits. There was no restriction on getting a Turkish phone or an internet dongle. I had and still have a Turkish tax number but rule changes made it impossible for me to retain the foreigners residency card as a marina contract is not now accepted for the purpose. (unless rules have changed again since I sold the boat). I think it was about 2019 when my wife and I received texts on our phones telling us that by Government decree our Turkish SIMs would no longer work, and they didn't.

I know at least one British member of this forum who has had a residence visa here for the last 4/5 years on foot of his marina contract.
You may be confusing two issues as regards your sims. If you import a mobile phone from outside Türkiye and put a Turkish sim in it then you have to pay import tax on the phone. If you don't pay the tax on it within 120 days the phone imei is blocked from accessing the Turkish networks.

 

[Norman_E]

I know at least one British member of this forum who has had a residence visa here for the last 4/5 years on foot of his marina contract.
You may be confusing two issues as regards your sims. If you import a mobile phone from outside Türkiye and put a Turkish sim in it then you have to pay import tax on the phone. If you don't pay the tax on it within 120 days the phone imei is blocked from accessing the Turkish networks.

I knew about the IMEI blocking, but my wife's phone was Turkish bought, and mine was a simple waterproof phone that had the tax paid and had worked for several years without being blocked, before both phones were blocked at the same time.

EDIT: I know I could have had residency with my Marina contract if I had been prepared to spend at least 181 days per year in Turkey, but that was not possible

 

[Irish Rover]

I knew about the IMEI blocking, but my wife's phone was Turkish bought, and mine was a simple waterproof phone that had the tax paid and had worked for several years without being blocked, before both phones were blocked at the same time.

Fair enough, if you say so. I'm not aware of any reason why that might have happened.