It was published today in the "Official Gazette" of Turkey the measure that provides for the extension to 49 years of the term of the duration of the port concession contracts and which is limited to the contractual agreements entered into under the procedure for privatization of national port activities.

On December 22, in fact, with 250 votes in favour of 330 voters, the Turkish Parliament approved the 2/4780 draft law on the electricity market, which stipulates, among other things, the lengthening of the duration of the port concession contracts, prolongation deemed vital and strategically important to ensure the competitiveness of Turkish ports that play an essential role in the development of the national economy. The Turkish ports law already provides for the duration of such contracts to be up to 49 years, but the new measure provides for the automatic renewal of contract agreements of shorter duration that have largely been signed up to the EU. by the State with the public companies Turkish Maritime Enterprises Co. (TDI) and Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryolları (TCDD), but also with private companies that the opposition denounces to be owned by people who are part of Turkish President Erdogan's circle.

In the course of the discussion at the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Murat Bakan, MP of the Republican People's Party (CHP), highlighted how ports, such as strategic infrastructure, are not only a national, but international, issue, by representing a key element of sovereignty, both in the commercial and military spheres. In his remarks, Bakan asserted that China is extending its global domination without soldiers, without ships and without arms, but expanding its own network of ports that now consists of 96 port airports around the world. The congressman also recalled the U.S. Congress's opposition to the ownership of the British P&O Ports, which was present in six ports in the USA, to the emiratense DP World, so much so that the latter had finally decided to hand over the American port terminals ( of the December 11 2006). According to Bakan, in order to preserve the role of a nation that international or regional power, it is necessary for this first of all to directly manage its own ports or to manage them from companies to national capital.

Bakan also referred to the sale of 40% percent of the company that manages the Turkish port of Mersin to Australian fund IFM Investors ( of the August 2 2017), divestment which, according to the MP, did not render the expected benefits. The MP then urged to vote in favour of extending the duration of the port concession contracts in order to ensure that ports are run by companies in national capital and prevent them from falling into the hands of the international capital.