Piracy in the Mediterranean Before the Second World War and Their Impacts on Turkey

During the Spanish Civil War just before the Second World War, revisionist countries Germany and Italy, and the Soviet Socialist Republics among the anti-revisionist countries confronted each other as the former supported the Nationalists and the latter supported the Republicans. During the Civil War, with initiation of the fighting sides and some powerful states that supported these sides, in 1937 there were some ship sinking incidents. Aids coming from the Soviet Socialist Republics were delivered through the Straits. Turkey was affected by piracy for the first time when, to stop these aids, two Republican ships in the exit of Çanakkale Strait, were sunk in August 1937. However, despite this result, Turkey did not take any measures against possible ship sinking incidents. At the same time as the piracy in front of Çanakkale Strait, the fact that a foreign submarine was seen in the Sea of Marmara caused disturbance. Against this submarine which implied the violation of Montreux Agreement, many measures including sinking were taken by Turkey. The fact that foreign submarines were seen in the Sea of Marmara again and the inability to catch them, despite these measures, led to “anxiety about security” and the inability to identify these submarines led to the “problem of efficiency”.