After political reactions provoked by the statements of a former ambassador and opposition deputy, who said that “The Blue Homeland is a fairy tale”, the testimony was taken up by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Türkiye: “Fairy tale” characterizes the “blue homeland” of a former ambassador and opposition MP
Our “Blue Homeland”.
The Turkish President on the sidelines of the Enlarged Meeting of Provincial Presidents at the AK Party headquarters, commenting on the statements of Republican People’s Party (CHP) MP, opposition official and experienced veteran diplomat Namik Tan, as well as “photographing” Greece stated:
“We see how the opposition is dealing with the issues of the nation in every aspect of society. The opposition is trapped in glass towers. They are diverted from all national issues.
They failed to show the sensitivity they showed when they labeled the Palestinian resistance as “terrorism” and when they reacted to Israel’s brutal massacres. We see a similar short-sightedness in the issue of the Blue Homeland. They blink at someone who accuses our country of expansionism. This is called irresponsibility, inconsistency and recklessness. We will not take the slightest step back in protecting our Blue Homeland. Let’s call them that. We will continue to defend the rights of Türkiye and Turkish Cypriots to the end.”
AK Parti Genişletilmiş İl Başkanları Tollingısı https://t.co/rsNv4jS9GZ
-Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) July 30, 2024
Omer Celik’s Fury
Namik Tan’s statement in question provoked, among others, the anger of AKP representative Omer Celik, who characterized his statement “unacceptable, irresponsible and inappropriate.”
In his post on Platform X, he said: “This is an approach without a political compass, which supports 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 It seems that the CHP foreign policy official who called the blue homeland an “expansionist policy” has been replaced by another who calls the blue homeland a “fairy tale”.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.”
An integral part of the “homeland”
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.”
The “disputed” statement
It is recalled that Namik Tan during his speech at the Plenary Session of the Turkish National Assembly on Saturday (27/7) said that “although the AKP strengthened its position, it tended to confuse adventurism with foreign policy. (…) In any case, it preferred to practice foreign policy with shouts and screams. And it did not stop there. Sometimes he dreamed of the revival of the Ottoman Empire. Not satisfied with cross-border (SS military) operations, he sought adventures abroad. As soon as conditions became difficult, that is, when the collapse of the economy knocked on our door, fortunately he quickly turned his back on the fairy tale of the “blue homeland” that persisted for some time.
Namik Tan also received criticism from insiders
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.”