Turks Rename Aegean Sea As Part of Expansionist ‘Blue Homeland’ Plan

Turkey has begun to rename the Aegean sea as the “Sea of Isles” as part of it’s expansionist “Blue Homeland” plan, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan using the term in a recent conference.

The Turkish term “Adalar Denizi” or “Sea of the Isles”  is used as part of the Blue homeland ideology as, according to former chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Naval Forces, Cihat Yaycı, it negates any mention of Greece.

Yaycı, who is one of the main theorists behind the Blue Homeland idea, claimed that the word Aegean has a Greek root and should not be used by Turkey when referring to the sea, which has also been referred to as the Northern Mediterranean by Jaiji in the past, Proto Thema reports.

According to the newspaper, Yaycı has argued that the Aegean islands located near Turkey belong to the Turkish continental shelf, and used the example of the recent earthquake that rocked the island of Samos and noted that the Greek mainland was unaffected by the earthquake, while the Turkish port city of Izmir had also been affected by it and suffered serious damage.

Earlier this year, Yaycı stated that the Turkish government of President Erdogan should not talk with Greece over disputes in the Aegean and claimed that Greece had no jurisdiction. He added that any talks could threaten the Blue Homeland doctrine as well.

In January, Turkish government communications director Fahrettin Altun raised eyebrows after openly backing the Blue Homeland doctrine and stating that Turkey had a “strong claim throughout history” to the eastern part of the Mediterranean sea.

Originally created by retired Turkish admiral Cem Gurdeniz over a decade ago, the Blue Homeland doctrine came into the spotlight last year when tensions between Greece and turkey increased over Turkish research vessel activity in the Aegean.

At one point last summer, Greece put its armed forces on alert over the issue and some, such as former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, spoke out against Erdogan’s behaviour, stating that it may lead to military conflict.

In early February, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke out against the German government’s continued plans to export several Type 214 Class submarines to Turkey despite the provocations from Ankara in the Aegean.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com