Blue Homeland maneuvers: Turkish tampering in Mediterranean waters

Shaimaa Yahya

Ankara began conducting maneuvers dubbed “Blue Homeland”, in which the land, sea and air forces participated in the Mediterranean and Aegean, including 87 warships, 27 aircraft and 20 helicopters.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey has no choice but to possess naval striking forces, and that the events in Syria, Iraq, the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean confirm this fact once again.

Erdogan claimed that the second Blue Homeland maneuvers this year will increase the Turkish army’s experience in using military technologies and locally manufactured vehicles, as well as testing the ability to coordinate between its units.

The Blue Homeland maneuvers were launched on February 25 and are mainly aimed at assessing the readiness of the commanders, units and ships of the naval forces.

Maritime borders a source of contention

The dispute over maritime borders and the tense relationship between Ankara and Athens have caused the Mediterranean waters to boil, and therefore the Turkish regime is trying to anticipate any move targeting by being militarily prepared.

Turkey covets Mediterranean options and uses all possible means and cross-border alliances in order to expand its control at the expense of neighboring countries and to focus its attention on encroaching on gas transmission lines and places likely to be discovered off the coasts of Cyprus and Greece.

Promoting Blue Homeland

Ersin Tatar, president of the Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is only recognized by Turkey, has promoted Ankara’s expansion project known as Blue Homeland. In late December, it was announced that he would stand by Ankara in its expansion project.

“The security of the Republic of Northern Cyprus and Turkey needs to move the current policy towards more advanced levels in the Blue Homeland (maritime borders) and the eastern Mediterranean,” Tatar said in a statement to the Anadolu Agency. “This policy is based on equality in sovereignty between the two halves of the island and cooperation between two neighboring countries living side by side.”