The reactions were provoked by statements by a former ambassador and member of the opposition parliament in Turkey, that the The “blue homeland theory” is a “fairy tale” that, under the pressure of the economic crisis, the government was forced to abandon.
The report in question by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) member and seasoned veteran diplomat Namik Tan has sparked reactions from ruling party officials but also from within his own party.
He tended to confuse adventurism with foreign policy.
Speaking at the Turkish National Assembly Plenary Session, CHP Istanbul MP and former Turkish Ambassador to Washington Namik Tan criticized the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) stance on foreign policy, stating that “while the AKP strengthened its position, it tended to confuse adventurism with foreign policy. (…) In any case, it preferred to pursue foreign policy with shouting and screaming. And it did not stop there. Sometimes it dreamed of the revival of the Ottoman Empire. Not satisfied with cross-border (SS military) operations, it sought adventures abroad. As soon as conditions became difficult, that is, when the collapse of the economy knocked on our door, fortunately it quickly turned its back on the fairy tale of the “blue homeland” that persisted for some time.
Namik Tan’s speech came during yesterday’s debate in the National Assembly Plenary on the approval of the presidential decree Recep Tayyip Erdoganwhich authorizes the Turkish government to send military forces to Somalia for two years.
The Turkish military presence in Somalia dates back to 2017, while in the coming months the seismic research vessel Oruc Reis is due to set sail to conduct surveys of hydrocarbon deposits in three offshore fields off the coast of Somalia, being linked, according to information published in the Turkish press, by a naval force for its protection. The CHP voted against the presidential decree in question.
In his speech to the National Assembly, Namik Tan said of the deployment of military forces to the Horn of Africa: “Here we are today faced with a proposal for Somalia that ignores all this accumulated historical and modern knowledge and experience. As has happened many times before, we are trying to ‘score goals’ with a profiteering mentality.”
“Unacceptable, irresponsible and inappropriate”
Reacting, AKP spokesman Omer Celik called Namik Tan’s statement “unacceptable, irresponsible and inappropriate.”
In his post on Platform X, the ruling party representative said: “This is an approach without a political compass, supporting Greece’s so-called positions against Turkey’s national policy. It seems that the CHP foreign policy official who called the blue homeland an “expansionist policy” has been replaced by another who calls the blue homeland a “fairy tale”. It is a political blunder and irresponsibility for some CHP MPs, who speak with this approach against our national policy, to repeatedly adopt in this way the so-called positions used by other states against Turkey.”
Continuing, Omer Celik stated that the “blue homeland” is an integral part of the “motherland”: “We will continue to fight for the protection of our national rights and interests in the blue homeland. Under the aegis of our National Assembly, the words of those who defend the claims of Greece and other states do not exceed the limit of the “political fairy tale”. It would be a healthier way for those who tell political stories similar to Greece’s claims to put Turkey’s rights in the Aegean and Mediterranean on their agenda as soon as possible.”
Namik Tan was also criticized for his statement.
CHP Vice Chairman and retired Rear Admiral Yanki Baggioglu, in a post on X, criticized Namik Tan without naming him, noting that “the idea of a blue homeland is an expression that includes the rights, interests and concerns of the Turkish Republic in the seas” and that “the theory of this idea and its concrete implementation in our seas go beyond any political considerations and are based on the effort of many years.” The CHP Vice Chairman further states that “the idea of the blue homeland is the realization of the Turkish national ideal of the seas, which took shape under the leadership of Atatürk.”
AMP Source