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Below is an account of the disgraceful and dishonourable treatment we have experienced in the port of Lattakia, Syria.

On Thursday 7th June, we arrived at the Syrian Yacht Club at approximately 08:45. After mooring we gave our boat registration, passports and crew list to the marina management. They returned later with the customs and immigration officials.

We were asked for exit papers from our last port of call which we did not have. We had left Mandraki harbour on the Greek island of Rhodes on 23rd May. We are an EEC flagged boat and were leaving an EEC harbour, as a consequence we are not normally required to go through any formalities on arrival or departure. We provided Greek receipts up to the 30th but could provide no further proof of where we had been for the last 7 days as we slowly made our way east to Lattakia.

We provided a signed document listing our last 10 ports of call and the receipt from Mandraki Marina in Rhodes dated 23rd May but this proved to be inadequate. The marina staff told us that immigration had no problem allowing my wife and me to enter the country. There was, however, a problem with our boat and they asked us to leave immediately. They told us if we sailed 85 miles to Iskenderum, Turkey, checked-in and checked-out, we would be able to return to Syria and that would solve the paperwork requirement.

This was an unreasonable request for the following reasons, which I made clear to everyone involved:

• We had done nothing illegal in leaving Rhodes, Greece as a British-flagged boat.
• We had just sailed non-stop for 300 miles which took 3 days and 3 nights and were therefore extremely tired. Sleep and food had been difficult due to weather conditions on our passage.
• We had insufficient fuel for a further 85 mile trip.
• We had problems with our Genoa foresail.
• We had no current weather information for the passage and that morning had encountered high winds and 2-4m waves.
• We had provided documentation showing us and the boat in Rhodes at the time we stated.
• We even showed the officials our journey on our computer (the computer logs the boat’s track from the GPS) and gave them a copy of our 2007 logbook.
• We discovered that both other boats in the marina (one German, the other British) had entered on receipts alone.
• We signed a declaration stating that neither we nor the boat had ever visited Israel.

Additionally we explained why it had taken us a couple of weeks to make our way from Rhodes harbour to Syria. While in Mandraki harbour, Rhodes, my wife lost part of her finger in an accident. The severity of the injury necessitated us remaining in the marina until 23rd May. We then went to anchor in Lindos Bay, within easy reach of the hospital. We left Lindos, Rhodes for Lattakia on 30th May at 16:00. Along the way we encountered a problem with our Genoa sail and I had to repair it. We also wanted to sleep, rest and relax as my wife was still recovering from her horrific injury and there are only 2 of us on board. This necessitated a few stops at anchor along the Turkish coast. Why not? we were in no hurry.

At this point I would like to stress that the marina staff and all the customs and immigrations officials who visited our boat during the course of the day were extremely polite, helpful and friendly. They spent many hours and made every effort to alleviate the situation. It would appear that a higher official (the Harbour Master?) refused to concede any ground. At around 15:30 he insisted that we depart by 18:00.

I refused to leave without sufficient fuel and was told that it was too late in the day. I protested. I was made to write and sign a document stating why I would not leave. Eventually, after more discussions and phone calls, an engineer came to inspect the boat and check whether I was telling the truth! The engineer verified the information I had given and a tanker was brought to the quay. I was most insulted to be effectively called a liar, but then that was the crux of this sorry incident.

By the time we refuelled it was around 22:00 and we were expected to leave immediately with no weather information. The negotiations had carried on all day; neither my wife nor I had managed to get any sleep after our long passage to Syria. We also had not had time to have anything to eat since breakfast due to the constant interruptions by officials.

As we were about to start our engines my wife broke down into tears from stress and exhaustion. Everyone on the quay were visibly distressed to see this and suggested that I radio Lattakia port control. I did this and after further discussions we were finally allowed to remain until daylight.

On Friday 8th June we sailed 95 miles to Mersin on the Turkish coast (a better alternative to Iskenderum due to wind direction) arriving the next day. It took us many hours to visit all the official offices necessary to get the exit papers required of us in Lattakia. At approximately 18:00 on 10th June my wife emailed the Syrian Yacht Club in Lattakia to advise them that we would be arriving on Monday 11th June. They sent an acknowledgement on Sunday morning attaching a document with options for tours of the country when we returned.

We left Mersin on Sunday 10th June. The latter half of our passage was extremely difficult due to near gale headwind and 2-4m waves. The weather conditions and sea state meant we had to tack, adding a further 30 miles to our course and several hours to our journey time. We moored in the Syrian Yacht Club at approximately 12:00 on Monday 11th June.

It was at least 2 hours before the marina staff arrived at our boat with a group of officials. They informed me that we would have to leave immediately. The officials were reluctant to provide an explanation. After I pressed the most senior man to give a reason he said that we had not radioed the port when we entered Syrian waters. I told him that this was not correct; I had contacted the port 5 times on our approach, finally receiving a reply 6 miles out. This was never mentioned again.
I discussed the situation with the Maissa from the marina. She assured me that we had done nothing incorrect or illegal. I also tried to explain to the officials that:

• We had fulfilled their instructions to sail to a Turkish port to obtain the paperwork they wanted.
• In doing so we had experienced a difficult return passage to Lattakia and had only managed 1-2 hours sleep in the last 32 hours.
• We had not eaten since 21:00 the previous night.
• Our next planned port of call was Alexandria, Egypt, almost 500 miles away (a minimum of 5 days and 5 nights continuous sailing).
• We would need to refuel for such a long passage.
• We had no weather information.
• We did not have enough food and drinking water on board for a long passage.
• We had made no passage plan to such a distant port.
• We had still not had the opportunity to make necessary repairs to the boat, outstanding from when we arrived in Lattakia on 8th June.

For all of these reasons to depart immediately would put us and our vessel at risk. The officials were utterly unsympathetic and insisted we leave immediately, unwilling to consider the dangers in such a situation. I told them we would require an extra crew and compensation after having been sent by them on a 3 day, 200 mile round trip when we were already exhausted and now being sent out again. They laughed and said that we had entered Syria illegally (blatantly untrue) and therefore had no rights. The discussions continued, a vehicle was brought to the quay and we were advised that if we did not leave the situation would “escalate”. The implication was that we would be arrested.

I continued to ask what we had done wrong. The next reason given was that we had not notified them of our arrival 24 hours in advance. This was also incorrect; we had emailed the Syrian Yacht Club on Saturday evening. Apparently Maissa did not get the required form to the officials until Monday morning because their fax was broken; a fact which they did not deny. Obviously this was not our fault.

I also continued to ask why we were instructed to make a 200 mile round trip to Turkey for exit papers if they were still going to refuse us entry. They said it was our choice; this was not the case. Maissa even confirmed they were lying but unfortunately had nothing in writing. The officials present on Thursday 7th quite clearly told us that we should go to Iskenderum, Turkey and return with exit papers. I made a point of confirming it a number of times with several officials because of how ridiculous it seemed. Despite our 3 day trip to comply with their requirement no one ever asked to see the exit paper we obtained in Mersin!

I telephoned the British consul in Damascus who told me they were unable to help as they did not have an office in Lattakia. The marina brought their lawyer into the discussions, to no avail. I asked to speak to the person giving the directive for us to leave, requesting the opportunity to put our case to him face to face or on the telephone as a reasonable man. I was refused, he was too important.

Finally we persuaded them to bring a tanker to refuel. The marina office provided some weather information which showed that the wind was not favourable for us to reach our next port of call. 2 guards were posted by our boat.

Eventually I managed to speak to the Syrian Consul in London, Mr R. Loutfi, and explain our situation to him. It was only by his kind intervention that some humanity was shown - we were allowed to stay the night and they offered to get us provisions.

We left Lattakia on Tuesday morning 12th June. Due to wind and weather, we ended up sailing 140 miles to Cyprus, a destination we had never intended to visit. Our schedule has been completely disrupted by this debacle and we have been forced to rethink our entire plans for the summer.

It is now obvious that we were never going to be allowed entry. It is dishonest and reprehensible that we were not advised of this on first arrival. To tell us to make a 200 mile journey under false pretences is both inhumane and dangerous.

I cannot find words to express my outrage at our experience. We have been planning our visit to Syria for some time and had obtained our visas at the Syrian Embassy in London in February. We were looking forward to exploring the country and certainly did not expect to be treated like criminals and liars after having made such an enormous effort to get there. We are very sad to be left with the impression that the Syrian people are not honourable, do not keep their word and, worst of all, they have no regard for the safety of a ship and her crew, contrary to all international norms.

We have been treated as a commercial ship not a pleasure craft, our crime was anchoring and not obtaining receipts! It would appear that the underlying problem, despite our written assurances to the contrary, was that we might have taken our boat to Israel after leaving Rhodes. This is utterly ridiculous and paranoid as it is almost a 600 mile direct passage and inconceivable for us to undertake with my wife’s injury. I also pointed out that it was because of my wife’s incapacity that we hadn’t gone into a marina or harbour, Lattakia was the first one since the injury. Our boat is 53 feet and 26 tons, a lot to handle with only 2 of us.

The irony of the situation is that, if we took our boat to Israel, it would be possible for us to travel overland to Jordan and enter Syria from there. It would then be Israel and an Israeli marina that benefits from this ridiculous episode.

Nicholas Cutler
Captain
S/Y Irony

Last updated: 29 December, 2008