Here is an interesting look into Turkey's maritime strategy and ambitions worth looking into to understand what is going on..
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What is Blue Homeland?
The Blue Homeland concept was initially brought out by Admiral Cem Gürdeniz in 2006 and became a doctrine that has been interiorized by the
people of the Republic of Turkey since 2013.
The purpose of this concept is to inculcate the maritime awareness into Turkish people and infuse the idea that one single drop of water is nothing less than one inch of soil.
We can easily say that the concept has progressed very effectively ever since which was received favourably by the Turkish people and consequently adopted as a state policy.
As the leader of Turks Atatürk said “ We must think of marine affairs as the great national ideal of Turks and achieve it in a short span of time."
Undoubtedly, the greatest lesson we’ve learned in the early part of the 20th century was the absence of our Navy.
The Ottomans, who entered the 20th century without a navy due to lack of progress and maritime awareness, suffered greatly from this significant deficiency.
However, the marine is destined for the Turkishness. The Turks who settled in Anatolia in 1071 reached the capacity to establish a Navy in just 10 years and Çaka bey who laid the foundations of the Turkish Maritime will always remain a guiding light in every moment of our lives.
Turkey, having learned from her past, entered the 21st century with a powerful navy which later on became one of the most powerful navies in the Mediterranean.
Turkey, in this day and age, carries the same goals and follows in the footsteps of Barbaros who ruled the Mediterranean in the 16th century.
Turkey’s Blue Homeland concept mapping is entirely based on her exclusive economic zone which has been lawfully demarcated.
At this stage, Turkey made an EEZ agreement with TRNC and Libya. Being the architect of the agreement with Libya, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cihat Yaycı also stands up for an agreement with both Lebanon and Israel.
Greece, who uses its islands with a 165 km coastal length as a base for the EEZ agreement can’t deter Turkey from defending her rights who has one of the longest coastal lengths in the Mediterranean which is 1577 km.
Today, The Republic of Turkey is conducting activities in 3 different points in the East Mediterranean with Seismic/Drill ships for the sake of the Blue Homeland.
These ships belonging to the Republic of Turkey will continue to defend her rights and interests by working in tandem with the Turkish Naval Forces.
As I put an end to my article, I’d like to share our map once again to indicate our “Blue Homeland” borders.