Eight Turkish marine associations have formed TYFED, a national yachting federation intended to represent workers, yacht owners, manufacturers, suppliers, brokers and professional seafarers at home and overseas.
The founding organisations include the International Yacht Industry Employees Association, Bodrum Seafarers Association, Professional Yachting Association, Antalya Commercial Yacht Owners Association, Izmir Boat Manufacturers and Suppliers Solidarity Association, Yacht Professionals in Yachting Association, Marmaris Seafarers and Captains Protection Association and Sailing Ship Training Association.
The Federation brings together representatives from Istanbul, Muğla, Izmir, Antalya and Ankara. Its first general assembly is scheduled for February.
TYFED president Levent Baktır said the organisation was created because separate associations had struggled to make their voices heard collectively.
He said Turkey’s yacht sector had expanded rapidly since 2008 and had reached second place globally in superyacht production, but lacked a unified body to represent that industrial strength internationally.
Common structure
He said there was a need for a common structure that would defend the rights and legal interests of everyone from employees to shipyards, brokers to mariners, suppliers to field personnel, both domestically and internationally.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” he said. “We will work with all our strength to ensure that our industry reaches the place it deserves, and we will do our best to do justice to the responsibility we have undertaken.”
TYFED’s priorities include overseas representation, employment and career opportunities for young people, attracting new customers and supporting shipyard growth. Baktır said a master plan presented at the Bodrum Boat Show would provide the federation’s roadmap.
Vice-president Tuna Altunkaya said TYFED would consolidate demands from employees, manufacturers and agents and present them to companies and public authorities nationally and internationally.
Professional Yachting Association president Halil Özyanık said yachting needed recognition as a sector in its own right rather than as a subcategory of commercial shipping.
Ümit Süha Ünal, a lawyer and Sailing Ship Training Association board member, concluded that if the yachting sector supports each other as a whole, it will make a significant contribution to the advancement of the Turkish yachting sector both domestically and internationally.
