Resort town port in Turkey bans boats carrying over 12 passengers

MUĞLA - Anadolu Agency

A customs port in Bozburun allows access to boats with up to 12 people. AA photo

A customs port in the Aegean resort town of Bozburun only allows access to boats carrying up to 12 people, preventing many boats with tourists, predominantly from neighboring Greek islands, from visiting the town.

The customs port was opened in Bozburun, a resort town in Muğla province’s Marmaris district, on April 2010, but it still has temporary border gate status due to the lack of technical materials.

Bozburun Mayor Cemil Şener said the port lacked a dock and x-ray machine and therefore could not allow boats carrying more than 12 people to enter.

“We did not know the limit of 12-person boats when the port was opened. Locals of the Greek island Symi, only nine miles away from Bozburun, want to visit and go shopping here. But they cannot come as we do not allow ferryboats in here. A tourism agency promised to start travels to Rodos when Bozburun customs port opened. But this promise could not be kept due to the limitation on passengers,” said Şener. He added that the mayor of Symi had also come to the town and attempted to remove the passenger ban, but was unsuccessful. “We have started an initiative to make a dock in Germen bay two years ago, but we failed to come up with a result. We have a customs port but we can only host yachts for six months in summer. It is closed throughout the winter,” said Şener, adding that the customs port could host trade ferries if a dock was built.

Despite these difficulties, the customs port had a busy season this summer due to the intense yacht traffic, said Şener. He said they had heard some rumors that the customs port might be closed down and said that such an incident would cause problems.