The ending day of Capitulations

The GAU Maritime and Navigation High School manager Captain Efdal Safel, published a message for the 1^st of June which is the maritime and cabotage day. Safel underlined that with the Treaty of Lausanne the sea manager ship had been given to Turks ‘The implementation cabotage was put into act on the 1^st of July 1926, and the cabotage law was accepted’.

The following was recorded in Safel’s message:

Happy 1^st of July - Maritime and Cabotage Day to all. As all know the Turkish was of independence has brought revolutionary changes economically and socially, taking steps towards nationalising, consecutive to the Treaty of Lausanne on the 1^st of July 1926 the cabotage law has passed.  The Ottoman Empire had given the western states the right to charge transport and passenger transportation in the Turkish seas via the capitulations. A large sum of sea operating was controlled by foreign states. Due to this reason Turks weren’t able to commerce on their own seas.

Manager Ship Rights were given to Turks

With the treaty of Lausanne the cabotage rights were passed on to Turks. The fully implementation act of the cabotage was passed through on the 1^st of July 1926. With this law the charge and passenger transportation was fully owned by the Turks. By this way Turkey succeeded fully independence in its own shores. The Turkish Republic re-brought the businesses set by foreigners due to the capitulations because of its national economy.

Turkish Cypriots…

We as Turkish Cypriots, just before, during and after the Liberation war of Turkey, have observed every action of revolution and enhancement of our Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and put support behind every change to be able to force the maximal adaptation within a short period of time. And this is the exact reason why we celebrate 1^st of July every year without any malfunction and with maximum events.

The Girne American University

The GAU Maritime and Navigation High School was set up in 2008 and since then has been celebrating the 1^st of July with different events. Within these events we are showing our dependence on Ataturk and his reforms, and we are continuing to be the most secure harbour for the naval education within North Cyprus.