In the latest of a series of provocations against Greece, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stood in front of a picture depicting a map of the Aegean Sea spit in half directly disputing Greece’s sovereignty over many islands.
The optics of the Turkish President standing in front of the map while addressing a swearing-in ceremony at Turkey’s National Defence University, effectively reintroduces the “Blue Homeland” theory.
The provocative photo of Erdogan standing in front the map was posted on the official Presidency’s website, demonstrating it was a conscious decision.
The photo shows Erdogan signing the school’s guestbook. Behind him, there is a map that reads “Blue homeland, 462,000 kilometres”.
The map shows half of the Aegean as part of Turkey’s “Blue Homeland”. The maritime areas around Lemnos, Lesvos, Chios and even east of Crete are included in the map as the “Turkish Blue Homeland”.
Welcoming hundreds of guests to a reception at the White Palace, Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey is currently fighting a major battle in the eastern Mediterranean and Cyprus.
“Turkey is waging a major political and economic struggle in the eastern Mediterranean and in Cyprus, with some siding with our opponents.
Some are trying to besiege Turkey politically, economically and militarily, and others, in order to increase their pie, are carrying water to our opponents’ mill. We knew this mentality well over a century ago,” the Turkish president said.
