Marine environment regulations on cruise ships: A special focus on the influence of EU candidacy of Turkey

Abstract: This thesis explores and reflects on the regulations related to marine environment protection with a special focus on the cruise industry. The main provisions regulating the cruise ships activities are primarily addressed by looking at the international and regional conventions for afterwards narrowing down the interest on the impact of their adoption on the development of the Turkish legislation. The country of Turkey is considered as unit of analysis in order to look at the process of legal and institutional convergence which is driving the harmonization of its legislation to the European one, and the way it might influence the marine policy. In this context, I tackle the importance of EU candidacy influence on the cruise ships’ industry at implementing the marine environment regulations and accept to give the priority to marine protection instead of condoning violations for the sake of economic benefits.