Erdogan’s nasty dream has a name: The Blue Homeland Doctrine

Erdogan’s willingness to do…Islamic prayers and recitals at Hagia Sophia to commemorate the Fall of Constantinople, that is analysed in Greek city Times by Paul Antonopoulos, is not a ‘mistake’.  The UNESCO World Heritage Site was built in 537 but turned into a mosque following the Ottoman capture of Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453, turned into a museum in 1935 shortly after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. This empire, is what Erdogan is ‘planning’ to establish. This is Erdogan’s ‘dream’. Recent developments indicate that Erdogan’s imperialistic dreams, to conquer the… half of Europe and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and resemble the ‘dreams’ of Adolf Hitler, have a name. They are called the Blue Homeland Doctrine.

The story

At the end of 2019, Turkey signed an agreement with Libya, which gave Turkey the control of Libya’s maritime territory and established in practice a maritime “corridor” in the eastern Mediterranean.

Controlling the maritime territory will let Turkey control vessel movement, the natural gas reservoirs, and the gas pipes in the area. For example, the pipes need to lay down from Israel to Greece and Italy.

The agreement caused the dissatisfaction of the countries Greece, Egypt, Cyprus, Israel, and France, as well as the resentment of the UN, which didn’t approve the agreement.

In February 2020, Libya’s National Army (LNA) announced it bombed a Turkish merchant ship in Tripoli port. The merchant ship carried weapons onboard for the government in Libya, which is supported by the UN and Turkey.

According to the leading geopolitical analyst Eyal Pinko, from International Institute For Migration and Security Research ‘an overall and strategic view on the sequence of events to which Turkey is involved lately sheds light on its efforts to become a regional maritime power.

This can be described as the “Blue Homeland” doctrine.

The “Blue Homeland” doctrine

Mr Eyal Pinko, in his article ‘Turkey’s Maritime Strategy Ambitions: The Blue Homeland Doctrine (Mavi Vatan)‘,  the “Blue Homeland” doctrine set targets to Turkish control in two range envelopes.

The first envelope includes the three seas which are surrounding Turkey – the Mediterranean Sea, the Aegean Sea, and the Black Sea.

The second envelope and the strategic one, includes the Red Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the Arabian Sea, including the Persian Gulf.

The Turkish dominance and the implementation of the “Blue Homeland” doctrine manifest itself in Turkish maritime dominance in these areas, including control over oil and gas reservoirs.

Another aspect of establishing dominance is Turkey’s political support of the region’s countries, the establishment of military bases, and training of military forces which will stand by its side.

Turkey established military and naval bases in Somalia, Sudan, Libya, and Qatar, including the training of soldiers, a supply of weapons, ammunition, and other military support.

Lately, it was even published that Turkey sent to Libya about 2,000 mercenaries from Syria and military advisers, who work in its name to defend and preserve the Libyan government.

The naval power force build-up

The Turkish navy operates regularly across the Mediterranean Sea, in the Black Sea (with an emphasis in front of Bulgaria) and in the Aegean Sea, next to the eastern chain of islands of Greece.

The Turkish navy had started to operate also in the Red Sea, in Bab El-Mandeb straits, in the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf, and even operate in cooperation with Pakistan. The cooperation with Pakistan is based upon a strategic perspective in which it will be used by Turkey to develop a permanent presence in the Arabian Sea and the Indian Gulf.

Turkey understands that its terrestrial topography, which is covered by mountains, is a defensive advantage and secure from ground attacks.

Turkey’s maritime boundary, which extends over three seas, is its weak boundary on the one hand and the other, is the one that constitutes an opportunity to its energy needs and economic independence and expansion.

This understanding, which lies well in the roots of the Ottoman history, brought Erdoğan a short time after his rise to rule, to begin in empowerment and a naval force build-up program, called Milgem.

This program is prosperous of financing and means, also based on the understanding that the key to Turkey’s force build-up and its establishment as a regional and international power, is an independent and technological development of the local Turkish industry.

The Turkish defense industry is focusing on the development and production of vessels, aircrafts, and advanced weapon systems for the military in general and the navy in particular.

This and more, the Turkish ambition is to become a world-leading arms exporter, which will allow it to influence countries and policies, as occurs in the American, Chinese and Russian models’. More analysis is provided in iimsr.eu (click here)

new-economy.gr