The Russian-Ukrainian war especially directed the Russian oligarchs to Turkey. Russian businesspeople, on the other hand, want to replace the flags on their yachts and planes with Turkish flags and gain the right to free travel. According to the news of Odatv, however, this does not seem possible due to the legal regulations in Turkey. International Law expert lawyer Gökmen Başpınar evaluated this situation.
Many countries, especially Europe and America, closed their airspaces and seas to Russian-flagged ships and planes within the framework of sanctions. Many Russian business people living and operating outside of Russia have been unable to even travel due to this situation. Many Russian business people, such as Roman Abramovich, cannot use these vehicles because of the flags of their planes and yachts.
Turkey is an exception
Turkey does not impose sanctions on Russia in this way, and due to the success of our country in foreign policies in the Ukraine-Russia war, the Western bloc cannot react negatively to this situation.
Many Russian business people, who may or may even want to replace the flags of their yachts and planes with the flag of another country, have drawn their attention to Turkey’s special position in the current conjuncture.
However, our current legislation currently does not allow such a flag change. It is not possible to register the aircraft of non-Turkish citizens in Turkey within the scope of the Turkish Civil Aviation Law, especially when it comes to aircraft carrying the Turkish Flag.
International Law expert Gökmen Başpınar underlined that the current laws prevent Russian business people from mounting Turkish flags on their planes and yachts. “About yachts, the Turkish International Ship Registry and the relevant Regulation and Communiqués regulate the requirement that the owners of yachts coming from abroad must be residing in Turkey and that the ship to be brought must be in its current owner since at least January 2017. Again, for the yachts of those who will meet these conditions to be registered, these yachts must be larger than 300 gross tonnage, which corresponds to a high tonnage even for yachts over 30 meters.
“Turkey can earn big tax incomes”
Attorney Gökmen Başpınar pointed out that it is practically impossible for Russian business people to register their planes or yachts in Turkey and fly the Turkish Flag at this stage, based on the current legislation. “However, Turkey, due to its special position, can register these aircraft and yachts and make them subject to the Turkish Flag, earning large tax revenues, and can attract large amounts of foreign currency into the country without any risk or cost. While we have legislation that paves the way for citizenship with an investment of 250 thousand dollars in the real estate sector, there is an urgent need to amend the relevant legislation, which deprives foreigners of foreign currency that can only be earned by subordinating their yachts and ships with the Turkish Flag, which can generate high foreign currency returns.”
Attorney Gökmen Başpınar claimed that the legislative change is a must and concluded his speech as follows, “Both port/hangar usage fees, operating expenses, maintenance, repair, spare parts and all kinds of transactions of yachts and planes to be subordinated to Turkey, as well as the fuel they will use, can be an important source of income for Turkey. For this reason, it is necessary to make the necessary legislative changes and ensure that Turkey does not lose this income opportunity”.
