Blue Homeland
The Blue Homeland (Turkish: Mavi Vatan), is an irredentist and expansionist concept and doctrine,[lower-alpha 1] created by the Chief of Staff of the Turkish Navy Commander Cihat Yaycı, and developed with Admiral Cem Gurdeniz in 2006.[10][11][12][3] The doctrine is representing Turkey's territorial sea, continental shelf, and exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around the Black Sea, as well as its claims of continental shelf and EEZ in the eastern Mediterranean, and the Aegean.[13]
History[edit]
On 2 September 2019, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appeared in a photograph with a map that depicted nearly half of the Aegean Sea and an area up to the eastern coast of Crete as belonging to Turkey. The map was displayed during an official ceremony at the National Defense University of Turkey in Istanbul[14] and shows an area labelled as "Turkey's Blue Homeland" stretching up to the median line of the Aegean,[15] enclosing the Greek islands in that part of the sea without any indication of the Greek territorial waters around them.
On 13 November 2019, Turkey submitted to the United Nations a series of claims to Exclusive Economic Zones in the Eastern Mediterranean that are in conflict with Greek claims to the same areas – including a sea zone extending west of the southeastern Aegean island of Rhodes and south of Crete. The Turkish claims were made in an official letter by Turkey's Permanent Representative to the UN Feridun Sinirlioglu, which reflect Ankara's notion of a "Blue Homeland" (Mavi Vatan). Greece condemned these claims as legally unfounded, incorrect and arbitrary, and an outright violation of Greece's sovereignty.[16]
Positions[edit]
Turkey's view[edit]
Turkey's position, unlike most other relevant states,[17][18][19][20][21][22] is that islands cannot have a full Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)[23][24] and should only be entitled to a 12 nautical mile reduced EEZ or no EEZ at all, rather than the usual 200 miles that Turkey and every other country are entitled to according to Article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Turkey has not ratified UNCLOS, and argues that it is not bound by its provisions that award islands maritime zones. In this context, Turkey, for the first time on December 1, 2019, claimed that the Greek island of Kastellorizo shouldn't have any EEZ at all, because, from the equity-based[25][26] Turkish viewpoint, it is a small island immediately across the Turkish mainland (which, according to Turkey, has the longest coastline), and isn't supposed to generate a maritime jurisdiction area four thousand times larger than its own surface. Furthermore, according to Turkey's Foreign Ministry, an EEZ has to be coextensive with the continental shelf, based on the relative lengths of adjacent coastlines[22] and described any opposing views supporting the right of islands to their EEZ as "maximalist and uncompromising Greek and Greek Cypriot claims".[26][25][27] On 20 January 2020, the Turkish President Erdogan challenged even the rights of Crete, Greece's largest island and 5th largest in the Mediterranean, stating that "They talk about a continental shelf around Crete. There is no continental shelf around the islands, there is no such thing, there, it is only sovereign waters."[28]
International Community's views[edit]
The Ambassadors of the United States and Russia to Athens, Geoffrey Pyatt and Andrey Maslov respectively, while commenting on Turkey's view, stated that all the islands have the same rights to EEZ and continental shelf as the mainland does.[29][30][31] The then US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Aaron Wess Mitchell, criticized the Turkish view, stating that it "is a minority of one versus the rest of the world."[32]
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6 nautical miles: Current territorial sea limits as recognized by Greece and Turkey in the Aegean.
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12 nautical miles: Upper limit of territorial sea limits defined as a legal right by UNCLOS; possible future claims by Greece and Turkey in the Aegean.
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Conflicting claims to continental shelf and EEZ areas in the eastern Mediterranean. Blue: areas claimed by Greece and Cyprus in line with UNCLOS; red: areas claimed by Turkey.
See also[edit]
- Cyprus–Turkey maritime zones dispute
- 2018 Cyprus gas dispute
- Libya–Turkey maritime deal
- 2020 East Mediterranean crisis
References[edit]
This article "Blue Homeland" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Blue Homeland. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
- ↑ Alemdar, Ahmet (2020-07-25). "Müstafi Tümamiral Cihat Yaycı'dan 'Mavi Vatan' Haritası". DefenceTurk (in Türkçe). Retrieved 2020-12-09.
- ↑ "How two 16th-century pirates inspired Erdogan's foreign policy". David Lepeska. The National News. 14 October 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Turkish admiral's resignation exposes a new showdown in Ankara". Yavuz Baydar. Ahval News. 20 May 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ↑ "Turkish presidency releases video promoting Blue Homeland doctrine". Kathimerini. 28 September 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- ↑ "Biden and Erdogan: Five Potential Flashpoints in US-Turkish Relations". Aykan Erdemir. Balkan Insight. 19 November 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- ↑ "How Erodgan-led Turkey went from NATO ally to liability". David Romano. Arab News. 4 September 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ↑ "Turkey-Greece tensions: Mediterranean waters roiled by Blue Homeland doctine". Washington Post. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ↑ "Turkey's unfinished war with the West". Simon Schofield. Jerusalem Post. 1 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ↑ "Nicolas Baverez: "Il faut arrêter Recep Tayyip Erdogan!"". Le Figaro. 1 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ↑ "Fatih again in the Cypriot EEZ". BalkanEU. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- ↑ "Turkey: Erdogan dismisses the "father of the Blue Homeland"". BalkanEU. 16 May 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- ↑ "Blue Homeland: the doctrine behind Turkey's Mediterranean claims". Andrew Wilks. The National News. 14 August 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ↑ "Aydınlık". 2020-12-04. Archived from the original on 2020-12-04. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
- ↑ "Erdogan takes photograph in front of 'Blue Homeland' map". Kathimerini. 2 September 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- ↑ Mariano Giustino, Dentro la dottrina marittima turca della Mavi Vatan che accende lo scontro con la Grecia, huffingtonpost, 26/08/2020.
- ↑ "Turkey eyeing area west of Rhodes". Kathimerini. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- ↑ "Im östlichen Mittelmeer sollen Erdgasvorkommen von mehreren Billionen Kubikmetern liegen. Das befeuert den Zypernkonflikt". Neue Zürcher Zeitung. 12 November 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
- ↑ "NZZ: Boreholes rekindle the Cyprus problem (original: ΝΖΖ: Οι γεωτρήσεις αναζωπυρώνουν το Κυπριακό)". Kathimerini. 13 November 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
- ↑ "Cypriot EEZ and Kastellorizo - Erdogan's geostrategic stakes (Original: "Κυπριακή ΑΟΖ και Καστελλόριζο - Το γεωστρατηγικό διακύβευμα του Ερντογάν"". SLPress. 4 August 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
- ↑ "Turkey-Libya maritime agreement draws Greek ire". ArabNews. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
Last year, Wess Mitchell, US assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, sent a message to Ankara over the drilling activities for hydrocarbons underway in Cyprus's exclusive economic zone. He said that "Turkey's view is a minority of one versus the rest of the world."
- ↑ "US official sends clear message to Turkey over Cyprus drilling". Kathimerini. 16 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
Turkey's view "is a minority of one versus the rest of the world," he said. "The rest of the world has a very clear, straightforward view that the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus is grounded in international law."
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 "Turkey, Libya delimitation deal raises geopolitical tensions". New Europe. 1 December 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
Turkey defines its 'EEZ' to be coextensive with its continental shelf, based the relative lengths of adjacent coastlines, which completely disadvantages islands. It is a 'unique' interpretation not shared by any other country and not in accordance to the United Nations UNCLOS treaty, ratified by 167 countries but not Turkey,"
- ↑ "Turkey sends non-paper to EU, warning to stay away from Cyprus EEZ". KeepTalkingGreece. 23 June 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
- ↑ "Greece's maritime claims 'maximalist,' violate international boundaries law". Daily Sabah. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 "QA-73, 1 December 2019, Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hami Aksoy, in Response to a Question Regarding the Statements Made by Greece and Egypt on the Agreement Signed With Libya on the Maritime Jurisdiction Areas". Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of Turkey. 1 December 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 "Turkey defends maritime deal with Libya". Kathimerini. 1 December 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- ↑ "New provocation by Turkey: disputes openly the continental shelf in Kastellorizo (original: Νέα πρόκληση της Τουρκίας: Αμφισβητεί ανοιχτά την υφαλοκρηπίδα στο Καστελόριζο)". in.gr. 1 December 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
- ↑ "Erdogan claims that Crete, islands have no continental shelf". Kathimerini. 20 January 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- ↑ "US envoy: Islands are entitled to EEZ, continental shelf". Kathimerini. 8 February 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- ↑ "Geoffrey Pyatt: All Greek islands have EEZ". Ethnos. 20 February 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- ↑ "Russian Ambassador to Athens: The islands have continental shelf and EEZ (Original: Ρώσος πρέσβης στην Αθήνα: Τα νησιά έχουν υφαλοκρηπίδα και ΑΟΖ)". CNN. 14 June 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
- ↑ "Wess Mitchell sends clear message to Turkey over Cyprus". Kathimerini. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
